PHILIPS’ HISTORICAL READER 
NO. 4 


Modern England 
















LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Shelf 

-- Crf- j Mj 

UNITED STATES Of* AMERICA. 










% 























































* 





























4 












* 






































* 





























H,R.H. 'THE PRINCE OF WALES 






































































Ifistariul 1|gnb«r$ 


MODERN ENGLAND 


THE ACCESSION - OF JAMES I. 

TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

W S \»\ , 


HISTORICAL READER No. IV. 






Mjv, 

"A 






V * 5 




WITH lOO MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Boston, glass.: 

BOSTON SCHOOL SUPPLY COMPANY, 
15 BROMFIELD STREET. 

- x% V\v 








1 

££ 3 %; 
,vvn*a 


THE LIBRARY ji 

OF CONGRESS ! 

- i 

WASH! NGTONji 



[Copyright 1884 by the Boston School Supply Co., Boston, Mass.] 







i 


PREFACE. 


vN this book, the aim has been to preserve the 
excellences which distinguish the preceding 
volumes of Philips’ Historical Readers. While 
it possesses a marked individuality of its own, the lines 
of thought which prevailed in the earlier periods of 
English history have been carried on unbroken to the 
days in which we live; and, where the final result of any 
movement has not yet manifested itself, clear indications 
have been driven of the direction in which the national life is 



developing. In this way, it is hoped the reader may be taught 
that the country’s past represents a steady process of organic 
growth, watched over by Divine Providence, and governed by un¬ 
changing and beneficent law. No better way could have been 
devised for educating the young to that continuity of thinking 
which is so vital an element in all real intellectual culture. 

The greatest possible care has been bestowed upon the 
literary style of this and the preceding volumes, and every 
sentence has been moulded with a view to its pronunciability 
as well as to its correctness. It is hoped that the result will be 
found most valuable in promoting the higher qualities of elo¬ 
cution—intelligence, expressiveness, and fluency. 


a 





VI 


PREFACE. 


Attention is again called to the admirable vignettes, all of 
■which have been specially prepared for this series and are 
genuine historical portraits. Further, the general illustration 
of the volume has received scrupulous care; only engravings 
of artistic merit and educative value have been admitted, while 
the excellent maps help to make the book a small historical 
library within itself. An element of no less importance will 
be found in the notes , which contain a great mass of informa¬ 
tion it would have been impossible otherwise to present within 
the limits of the book. 





a 


CONTENTS. 

I. THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


A Scottish Kino upon the English Throne .. 

James and the Relioious Parties 

The Kino and His Parliaments 

Charles I.—The Period of Parliamentary Rule 


Period of Absolute Rule 
The Pilgrim Fathers 
Renewal of Parliamentary Rule 
The Civil AVar .. 

Thk Kino a Captive 


The Last Struggle for the Kino 
The Fate of the Kino 
The Commonwealth 
The Last of the Old Cavaliers 
Cromwell in Ireland and Scotland .. 

Cromwell and the Younger Charles .. 

Cromwell and the Commonwealth 
Cromwell, Lord Protector 
The Restoration of the Stuarts 
The Clarendon Ministry 
The Renewal of the Struggle between the Crown and Parliament 
The Fall of the Stuarts 

William III.— The King Appointed by Parliament .. 

The Age of Anne 


page 

9 

13 

16 

22 

27 

31 

32 
39 
So 
55 
60 

65 

69 

73 

78 

82 

88 

94 

99 

105 

hi 

128 

136 


II. THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY. 

A German King upon the English Throne 
The Ministry of Walpole .. * 

The Last Jacobite Rising 
Charles Edward at Versailles 
The Administration of the Elder Pitt 
A Truly English King .. 

The War of American Independence .. 

The Ministry of the Younger Pitt 


England and Napoleon: The Peninsular War .. .. .. ..199 

Waterloo .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..209 

The Field of Waterloo .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 215 

The Early Years of the Great Peace .. .. .. .. ..218 

The Period of the Great Reform Bill .. .. .. .. ..223 

Victoria : The Halcyon Days .. .. .. .. .. .. ..229 

Thf. Crimean War: The Indian Mutiny .. .. .. .. ..238 

African Wars since the Mutiny .. .. .. .. .. ..247 

Wars in Defence of India .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 253 

The Recent Years of the Reign of Victoria .. .. .. .. .. 259 


154 

161 

169 

171 

177 

183 

193 












AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 


His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales .. 

PAGE 

Procession from Edinburgh Castle .. 9 

James I., from a picture by Van Somer 9 

Royal Procession on the Thames .. 9 

Table showing the Descent of James 1 . 10 

Palace of Westminster, from the River 14 

Signature of James 1 .15 

A Royal Hunting Party.16 

Sir Walter Raleigh, from a por¬ 
trait by Zucchero .19 

Lord Bacon, from a portrait by Van 

Somer.20 

Charles I., from the portrait by Van¬ 
dyke .22 

Charles I. and his Family .. .. 25 

The Earl of Strafford, from a por¬ 
trait by Vandyke .27 

John Hampden, from Lodge’s por¬ 
traits .29 

Arrest of Strafford .33 

Map of the Civil War .38 

Funeral of Hampden .41 

Marston Moor—Charge of the Iron¬ 
sides . .. 45 

Facsimile of a portion of Cromwell’s 
Letter to the Speaker of the House 
of Commons announcing the Vic¬ 
tory of Naseby .46 

The King delivered to the Parliamen¬ 
tary Commissioners.49 

John Milton (Cambridge Portrait) 50 
Map showing the New Forest and the 

Isle of Wight .55 

Colonel Pride excluding the Members 

from the Commons.58 

Windsor Castle .. .. .. .. 60 

Whitehall.63 

Mutiny of the Levellers.68 

The Marquis of Montrose, from a 

print in the British Museum .. 69 

View of Old Edinburgh.76 

< harles’s Escape from Worcester .. 79 

The Expulsion of the Rump .. .. 86 

Cromwell, from Miniature by Cooper 88 
Richard Cromwell, from a portrait 

in the National Portrait Gallery 94 
The Restoration—The Tables Turned 97 
Charles II., from a portrait by Lely 99 
The Dutch Fleet in the Thames .. 102 

Westminster Abbey .no 

James II., from a portrait by Lely .. in 

Monmouth and James.114 

The Landing of William of Orange .. 118 

The Pass of Killiecrankie .. .. 123 

The Flight of James from the Boyne 126 
William and Mary, from a medal in 

the British Museum.128 

Burning of French Ships at La Hogue 132 
Anne, from a portrait by Sir Godfrey 

Kneller.136 

Marlborough, from a portrait by 

Closterman .139 

Map of Hanoverian Britain .. .. 144 

Table showing the Descent of the Hano¬ 
verian dynasty .145 

George I., from a portrait in the 

National Portrait Gallery .. .. 145 

The South Sea Bubble.150 

Autograph of George 1 .153 

George II., from a portrait in the 

National Portrait Gallery .. .. 154 

a 


Frontispiece. 

PAGE 
con- 


Sir Robert Walpole, from a 

temporary print in the British 

Museum. 

The Return of Anson . 

Prince Charles Edward, from a 
Miniature belonging to the Queen 

Hoisting the Standard. 

Holyrood Palace. 

View of Edinburgh . 

William Pitt the Elder, from a pic¬ 
ture by R. Brompton 
Clive, from an Indian portrait 
Wolfe, from a Print in the British 

Museum. 

Table showing the Genealogy of the 

Home of Hanover . 

George III., from a portrait in the 
National Portrait Gallery 

44 Wilkes and Liberty ”. 

George Washington, from aportrait 
at Washington, U.S. 

Attack on the Tea Ships at Boston ., 

Map to illustrate the American War 
Naval Battle off Dominica 
William Pitt the Younger, from a 

bust by Flaxman . 

Nelson, from a steel engraving 
Napoleon Buonaparte, from a por¬ 
trait by Ingres. 

The Battle of Trafalgar. 

The Burial of Sir John Moore 
Map to illustrate the Peninsular War 
Napoleon’s Retreat from Moscow 
Wellington, from a lithograph by 

Maclure. 

Napoleon’s Escape from Elba 
Map showing the Belgian Battlefields 

Plan of Waterloo . 

Wellington leaving the Ball 
George IV., from a portrait by Sir 

Thomas Lawrence. 

The First Locomotive. 

The First Steamer. 

William IV., from a portrait in the 
Print Room of the British Museum 
Three Reformers—Lord Grey, Lord 
Russell, and Lord Brougham, from 

contemporary prints. 

Wilberforce, from a portrait by 

Wilkie.. 

Victoria and Albert 

The Young Queen. 

Cobden, from an early photograph ., 
Bright, from a photograph 

The Great Exhibition. 

Lord Clyde (Sir Colin Campbell), 

from a photograph. 

Map to illustrate the Crimean War .. 
Charge of the Heavy Brigade 
Florence Nightingale, from a 

photograph . 

Cawnpore . 

Havelock, from a steel engraving ,. 
Defence of Rorke’s Drift 
The Retreat from Mai wand 
Bombardment of the Alexandrian 

_ Forts .. 

Beaconsfield. from a late photograph 265 
Gladstone, from latest photograph 267 


156 

i59 

161 

163 

164 

165 

171 

1 74 

1 75 

i77 

1 77 
181 

183 

i 85 

189 

191 

193 

196 

199 

201 

203 

204 
207 

209 

210 

211 

213 

216 

218 

220 

222 


223 


224 

227 

229 

231 

233 

234 
23U 

238 

239 

241 

242 

244 

245 

250 

254 

257 









I. THE HOUSE OF 
STUART 

A SCOTTISH KING UPON 
THE ENGLISH THRONE. 

E NGLAND under Eliza¬ 
beth.—The reign of 
Elizabeth may justly be re¬ 
garded as one of the golden 
periods of English history. 
Never had England seen an 
era of brighter intellectual 
splendour, or one in which 
social and material progress 












IO 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—JAMES I. 


had been so rapid; this island, Protestant though she 
was, had at last won a place among the great powers 
of Europe. * 1 

Accession of James.—James was the only son of 
the beautiful but unfortunate Mary Stuart, Queen of 
Scots. Before his mother’s death, and while only an 
infant of twelve months, he had been proclaimed King 
of Scotland. 2 On the death of Elizabeth the throne of 
England was his by right of birth, and Elizabeth on 

TABLE SHOWING THE DESCENT OF JAMES I. 

Henry VII. 


Arthur. Margaret, Henry VIII. Mary, 

| m. Charles Brandon, 

' ^ Duke of Suffolk, 

m. (i) James IV. m. (2) Douglas, 

of Scotland. Earl of Angus. 

James V. Margaret, Frances, 

m. Earl of Lennox. m. Marquis of Dorset. 


■ Lady Jane Grey. Catherine Grey, 
______ m. Earl of Hertford. 

Mary, Queen=Lord Darnley. Earl Lennox, 
of Scots. | | Lord Beauchamp. 

James VI. of Scotland : I ■-^ 

I. of England. Arabella Stuart. = William Seymour 

(d. 1660). 


her death-bed had named James to succeed her. The 
very first act of his first Parliament was to declare him 
“ lineally, justly, and lawfully next and sole heir to the 

blood royal of this realm.” 3 

Every party in the State had special reasons for believ¬ 

ing that he would favour their purposes. The Catholics 
thought that they had little to fear and much to hope from 
the son of Mary Stuart. 4 The Puritans 5 believed that as 
James had been trained under Presbyterian 6 influences, 











A SCOTTISH KING UPON THE ENGLISH THRONE, u 


he would not refuse their modest demands for greater 
liberty in regard to forms of worship. The Episcopalians 7 
founded their hopes upon James’s avowed preference for 
their forms of worship. Men of all shades of opinion 
rejoiced that by the union of the Scotch and English 
crowns, the danger of conflict between the two nations 
was now at an end. 

Reception in England.—The English people, there¬ 
fore, received James with almost unanimous welcome. 
His progress through his new kingdom on the way to 
London was attended with games, festivals, and every 
token of national rejoicing. So great was the joy of the 
people, so eager were they to show their loyalty, that 
James, who disliked crowds, issued a proclamation to 
check their approach. 

This indicated a fatal want in the new king—a want 
which specially unfitted him to be the successor of Henry 
VIII. and Elizabeth, whose popularity was largely due 
to their personal influence over the mass of the people. 
This James was utterly incapable of exercising. He 
shrank from contact with his subjects, partly from self- 
conceit, partly from natural timidity, partly from indolent 
love of ease and quiet. His personal appearance had, 
moreover, little of kingly dignity ; besides he was choleric 
in temper aud garrulous in speech. His dress also was 
singular—a thickly-quilted doublet 8 of green, with a 
small feather in his cap, and a horn instead of a sword 
by his side. This dress he was in the habit of wearing 
till it was threadbare, for he had a great dislike to part 
with a suit to which he had grown accustomed. 

James had received his early training from George 
Buchanan, who was famous both as a poet and a historian . 9 
From such a tutor he would acquire a taste for poetry, and 


12 


THE HOUSE OE STUART—JAMES I. 


a, love of learning and theology. Probably no man of 
liis time was a better theologian ; he specially prided him¬ 
self on his ability to hold his own with the most learned 
doctors of Europe; and he possessed also an immense 
amount of knowledge on all kinds of subjects . 10 

The besetting defect of James was his excessive self¬ 
esteem ; he was proud of his learning and ability, and 
had very lofty notions of his kingly office. He possessed 
indeed a shrewd judgment and a keen insight into the 
weaknesses of human nature, yet he had little tact. He 
never properly understood the English nation, and was far 
less popular as an English than as a Scottish monarch. 


1 . Great Powers of Europe. At that time the 

other great powers were France and Spain. 

2 . As King of Scotland he was James VI. He 

was crowned at Stirling in 1507 , and be¬ 
came King of England in 1003 . 

3 . James had not a strictly constitutional claim, 

for Parliament had empowered Henry VIII. 
to settle the succession by will, and he had 
passed over the Scottisli line in favour of 
the descendants of his younger sister 
Mary. 

4 . Mary, Queen of Scots, was a devoted Catho¬ 

lic. She was put to death by Elizabeth on 
a charge of being concerned in Catholic 
plots. 

5 . Puritans, literally, those who desired purity 

of worship. 

6. Presbyterians, those who approve of church 


government by presbyteries composed of 
‘ elders ’ elected from the laity and clergy, 
and in which the members have equal 
power. 

7 . Episcopalians, i.e., those who prefer a system 

of church government by bishojis or pre¬ 
lates, under whom are clergy of different 
grades. 

8. Doublet, a kind of waistcoat made doubly 

thick for defence. James is said to have 
worn it from dread of assassination. 

9 . Buchanan ( 1500 - 1582 ) was the most famous 

Scottish scholar of his time. 

10 . Janies published a great many books. In 
one of them. ‘ A Counter-blast to Tobacco/ 
he strongly opposed smoking, a custom 
which had come into use not many years 
before his accession to the English throne. 










JAMES AND THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES. 


3 


JAMES AND THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES. 

J AMES and the Puritans.—Soon after his accession 
lie summoned the Episcopalians and Puritans to a 
great conference at Hampton Court Palace, 1 in order that 
he might himself judge of the points in dispute between 
them. He allowed the Puritans a few concessions in 
regard to the use of the liturgy, 2 but scornfully rejected 
all their principal requests. In this way he needlessly 
irritated them, and raised in their hearts a bitter feeling 
which in his son’s reign ripened into open revolt. 

James and the Catholics.—Towards the Catholics 
James cherished no personal dislike. Indeed he was 
inclined to tolerate all religious sects, except Presby¬ 
terians. He wa,s ready to favour the Catholics if he 
could do so without injuring his own interests. At first 
he seemed disposed to gain their goodwill, and informed 
them that so long as they remained loyal, he would not 
fine those of them who refused to attend church, and 
that otherwise they would be treated with leniency. 

Soon it was known that a party of Catholics had been 
engaged in a plot in favour of Arabella Stuart; 3 and it 
was also found that, after they had nothing to fear 
from the open profession of their faith, the number of 
avowed Catholics increased very rapidly. It was there¬ 
fore determined to banish all Jesuit 4 and Seminary 5 priests 
from England, and to enforce strictly the penal laws 
against those who refused to attend the Church of Eng¬ 
land. 

The Gunpowder Plot, 1604.—Such stern measures 
inspired with new daring and determination a desperate 
band of Catholic conspirators, who resolved at all hazards 



14 THE HOUSE OF STUART—JAMES I, 

to overthrow the King. Catesby, the head of the con¬ 
spirators, was a zealous Catholic gentleman, of North¬ 
amptonshire, who had suffered severely for his religion. 
For many years he had been brooding over designs for 
a Catholic restoration, and at last he planned a bold and 
daring scheme—to blow up the Houses of Parliament 


THE PALACE OF WESTMINSTER, FROM THE RIVER. 

with gunpowder, and to excite a general rising of the 
Catholics. 

The conspirators hired a house adjoining the palace 
of Westminster, 6 and guided by the skill of Guy Fawkes, 7 
an Englishman who had served in the Netherlands, they 
proceeded to undermine the building. Their progress 
was slow; but having hired a cellar which ran under the 









JAMES AND THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES. 


15 


House of Lords, everything was quickly arranged and 
the train was ready to be fired more than a week before 
the appointed time. 

The scheme was so audacious as almost to court detec¬ 
tion. It is certain that the Government was aware that 
it was in progress; and after the principal conspirators 
had gone to arrange for seizing the young Prince Charles 
and stirring up an insurrection, the vault was entered 
and Fawkes was discovered and arrested. 

On learning that the plot had miscarried, the con¬ 
spirators fled. Catesby was killed, and his associates 
either shared a similar fate or were taken prisoners to 
expiate their crime at the block. 

Although the great body of the Catholics had taken 
no part whatever in the plot, and regarded it with 
indignation, yet the public feeling was so excited, that 
laws still more severe were immediately passed against 
them. 


1. Hampton Court Palace was presented by 

Wolsey to Henry VIII., and was a favourite 
residence of Charles I. 

2. Liturgy, i . e ., the ‘ Book of Common Prayer’ 

used in the Church of England. 

3. Arabella Stuart, see table page 10. She was 

supported by a few enthusiasts whose affec¬ 
tion for Elizabeth made them prefer the 
rule of a queen to that of a king. 

4. Jesuits, i . e ., members of the Society of Jesus, 

a famous Roman Catholic order founded in 
153G by Ignatius Loyola. 


5. Seminary priests, i . e ., from the English col¬ 

lege or seminary for missionary priests at 
Rheims. 

6 . The Palace of Westminster was at one time 

the principal residence of the English 
kings, but after a great fire in 1512 it was 
fitted up for the Houses of Parliament. 
It was again destroyed by fire in 1835, after 
which the present noble building was 
erected. 

7. Guy Fawkes was a Yorkshlreman of good 

family. 



SIGNATURE OF JAMES I. 



16 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—JAMES I. 



A ROYAL HUNTING PARTY. 


THE KING AND HIS PARLIAMENTS. 

K ING by Right Divine.—James held a very exalted 
view of his kingly office. He asserted that kings 
reigned not by the voice of their people but by the 
right bestowed upon them by the Creator, and that no 
human power could deprive them of that right. He 
also declared that such kings graciously allowed laws to 
be made and usually kept them, but that they were not 
bound to obey them upon all occasions, and might break 
them if they saw fit. Such a “ right ” has been described 
as “ the right divine of kings to govern wrong ” In this 
absurd notion James was sternly opposed by the Com¬ 
mons. 

Before his first Parliament met, James gave great 
offence by interfering with the elections. In the short 
struggle that followed, the Commons established their 
sole right to inquire into the election of their own mem¬ 
bers $ and, in opposition to the king, solemnly maintained 










THE KING AND HIS PARLIAMENTS. 17 

the position of Parliament as the highest court of the 
realm—giving laws to all other courts, receiving them 
from none. 

James still further alienated the Commons by declaring 
that their privileges were not matters of right, but were 
merely allowed by the king’s grace. The Commons in¬ 
dignantly protested that their privileges were the right 
and inheritance of the people of England, and warned 
the king against believing that he could with impunity 
break the laws. Thus, James gradually alienated the 
affections of his people, and embarked in a struggle in 
which his son lost his life, and his dynasty the throne. 

During this first Parliament of James, his adviser was 
Cecil , 1 Earl of Salisbury. This statesman yielded far too 
much to the king’s notions of absolute power, but he 
endeavoured to guide the foreign policy of the country 
after the spirit of the great Elizabethan era. He thus 
kept James back from a union with Spain, and for a 
time maintained England in its old position as champion 
of Protestantism in Europe. Almost his last act was to 
arrange for the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth to the 
Elector Palatine , 2 from which union sprang the present 
Royal Family of England. 

The Rule of the Favourites.—Cecil and the pro¬ 
mising Prince Henry died in the same year, and, instead 
of seeking the advice of statesmen, James gave himself 
up entirely to the influence of worthless favourites. All 
steady ideas of national policy, all memories of the Pro¬ 
testant leadership of the previous reign disappeared. 
The favourites flattered the king’s absurd notions of his 
divine right, and, after a useless Parliament in 1614 , 
urged him to throw aside the constitutional means of 
raising a revenue, and follow more arbitrary measures. 

n 


4) 


8 


THE HOUSE OE STUART-JAMES I. 


By reviving the system of benevolences or loans (some 
of which were never repaid), from the great landowners, 
he only proved to himself how completely he had lost 
the support of the gentry, whom he further exasperated 
by the abuse of his rights in regard to taxes on marriages 
and wardships. 

The practice of granting monopolies 3 in trade or manu¬ 
facture to certain persons in return for the payment of 
a sum of money was increased beyond all precedent. 
Free gi r ts were exacted from the nobles; peerages were 
virtually sold to the highest bidder; and in order to 
defray the expense of an army in Ireland (which was 
never raised), the new order of baronet was created. 

The first of these inexperienced favourites, in whose 
hands the king placed the direction of affairs, was 
Robert Carr , created Viscount Rochester and afterwards 
Earl of Somerset, whose only qualifications were his 
youth, his servility, and his personal beauty. Carr was 
the chief cause of the extravagant expenditure of the 
court, which led the king to raise money by illegal means. 

At first the favourite was opposed by the Earls of 
Suffolk and Northampton, but the two factions were 
united by the marriage of Rochester to the daughter of 
the former earl. This lady had been Countess of Essex ; 4 
but Rochester had, with the aid of the king, procured 
for her a divorce from her husband. Before the trial 
began, Sir Thomas Overbury, the confidential adviser of 
Rochester, tried to dissuade his patron from the mar¬ 
riage. He was then on a frivolous charge committed 
to the Tower, 5 where he perished by poison. 

The Lieutenant of the Tower soon afterwards revealed 
to the Secretary of State the manner of Overbury’s death, 
and both Rochester and the Countess were brought- to 


THE KING AND HIS PARLIAMENTS. 


19 


trial, found guilty, and sentenced to death. But James, 
either from foolish clemency or from dread of dangerous 
disclosures, pardoned them, although their agents were 
executed. 



The next favourite was George Villiers, ultimately 
created Duke of Buckingham. He was abler and far 
more ambitious than Somerset, but his vanity and rash¬ 
ness involved England in many serious difficulties. 

Already James had entered into eager negotiations 
for the marriage of his son Charles, Prince of Wales, 
with the Spanish Infanta. 

The aim of Spain was to 
prevent him from protecting 
the Protestants of Germany. 

Probably but for the indeci¬ 
sion of James, the difficul¬ 
ties that led into the great 
Thirty Years’ War 6 might 
have been easily solved. 

The memory of the Ar¬ 
mada made England jealous 
of Spain, and the conduct of 

James in sacrificing to that SIR Walter raleigh. 
power the life of Sir Walter Raleigh, gave greater 
oftence to public feeling than his failure to save the 
Palatinate.' 

Sir Walter Raleigh.—Sir Walter Raleigh was a man 
of fine and varied gifts, and had distinguished himself 
both as an explorer and a soldier. On account of his 
suspected connection with a conspiracy against the crown, 8 
lie had suffered an imprisonment of more than twelve 
years in the Tower—the weariness of which he had 
lightened by writing his “ History of the World.” Ho 


20 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—JAMES I. 


received his freedom by holding out to James and 
Buckingham hopes of discovering a gold mine of mar¬ 
vellous value on the banks of the Orinoco, on condition 
that he should abstain from attacking the Spaniards. 

Raleigh did not succeed in discovering the mine, and 
after a conflict with the Spaniards, in which he lost his 
son, he returned “ with his brain and his heart broken.” 
To please the Spaniards, James most unjustly ordered 
the old sentence to be carried out. His execution took 
place on a cold frosty morning in October, 1618, and 

the Sheriff advised Raleigh 
before setting out to warm 
'himself at the fire. “Nay, 
let us be swift,” said Raleigh, 
in a few minutes my ague 
will return upon me, and if 



I be not dead before that, 
'they will say I tremble for 
fear.” 

The Fallen Lord Chan- 
ceUor.—A third parliament 
was called in 1621, and the 
members at once proceeded 
to show their determination to resist the king’s arbitrary 
method of governing. They first impeached the chief 
monopolists , who were found guilty and severely punished. 

They next attacked the Lord Chancellor Bacon? who 
was accused of having accepted bribes. Now Bacon, 
whose writings are not more remarkable for their pre¬ 
eminent ability than for their noble and elevated morality, 
had in vain sought to check corruption ; but in accord¬ 
ance with a custom, then universal, he had consented to 
accept presents from successful suitors after their cases 


THE KING AND HIS PARLIAMENTS. 


21 


had been decided. There is no proof that his decisions 
were influenced by money considerations; but neverthe¬ 
less he was sentenced to pay a fine of .£40,000, to 
be imprisoned in the Tower during the king’s pleasure, 
and to be declared unfit to hold any office connected 
with the State. He admitted the sentence to be “just, 
and for reformation’s sake fit,” but added that he was 
“ the justest Chancellor that hath been in the five changes 
since Sir Nicholas Bacon’s time.” 

Meantime, in spite of the opposition of the Commons, 
the negotiations for the marriage were dragging slowly 
on. Buckingham at last persuaded the king to send 
the young Prince Charles and himself to Spain to press 
the suit personally. The two ‘ adventurous knights ’ 
travelled in disguise through France, and reached Spain 
in safety; but Buckingham’s haughtiness offended the 
Spaniards, and Charles returned home without a bride. 

Soon afterwards a treaty was signed for the marriage 
of Charles with Henrietta Maria of France, and an alliance 
concluded with France against Spain. Two years later, 
James died with the consciousness that his European 
policy had proved a failure, and that in his own kingdom 
the sovereign power had already passed out of his hands.^ 


1. Cecil was the son of Burleigh the famous 

minister of Elizabeth. 

2. The Palatinate, up to 1(520, included two 

divisions of Upper or Bavarian and the 
Lower or Rhenish Palatinate. The chief 
towns were Mannheim and Heidelberg. 

3. Monopolies, licenses conferring the sole right 

of selling certain articles. 

4. Countess of Essex, wife of that Earl of Essex 

who joined the national party and became 
general of the Parliamentary forces in the 
Civil War. 

5. The Tower of London was at that period a 

great political prison. 


6. Thirty Years War between the Catholic and 

Protestant princes of Germany. 

7. Frederick the Palatine Elector was James’ 

son-in-law and the champion of the Pro¬ 
testant cause in Germany. 

8. See note 3, page 15. 

9. Bacon (1561-1626), the father ef modem 

science. His chief works are, The Ad¬ 
vancement of Learning, the Novum Or- 
ganum Essays, and a History of Henry 
VII. The latter, strangely enough, seems 
to fill, in prose, the gap in Shakespeare’s 
Series of Historical Plays. 






22 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I. 


CHARLES I.—THE PERIOD OF PARLIA¬ 
MENTARY RULE. 

HE Tonnage and Pound¬ 
age Parliament, 1625 .— 
Although little or nothing 
was known of the character 
of Charles when he succeeded 
to the throne, 1 he had be¬ 
come rather a popular favour¬ 
ite. His whole demeanour 
and conduct were strikingly 
different from those of his 
father. He was formal, dig¬ 
nified, and attentive to all 
charles i. . the decencies of life. 

His betrothal to the daughter of the King of France 
was not liked; but when the young queen passed up 
the Thames 2 towards London, she was received with the 
utmost enthusiasm by the multitude, who crowded into 
barges and thronged every point of vantage along the 
river’s banks. 

But the continuance of his connection with Bucking¬ 
ham was sufficient to prejudice the nation against him, 
and the first Parliament which Charles summoned de¬ 
clined to commit itself to warlike enterprises of which 
little was known except that they were invented by 
Buckingham. Instead, therefore, of the £ i,000,000 
asked for by Charles to carry on the war against Spain, 
the Commons refused to grant more than £ r 40,000. 

Further, the leaders of the Commons saw clearly that, 
to ensure constitutional government, the revenue must 






THE PERIOD OF PARLIAMENTARY RULE. 


23 


be granted year by year. Experience has proved that 
they were right; for to this day, even under our beloved 
Queen, Parliament pursues the same plan. A change 
was felt to be necessary, and the accession of a new 
king was seen to be a favourable opportunity. Accord¬ 
ingly, the Commons voted the duties of tonnage and 
poundage 3 (which had in previous reigns been given to 
the sovereign for life) for one year only. 

In the first year of Charles’s reign there was a terrible 
outbreak of the plague 4 in London, and on this account 
the Parliament adjourned to Oxford. It was proceeding 
to embody complaints against Buckingham, when Charles 
dissolved it. Both Buckingham and Charles were con¬ 
fident that the opposition would at once cease after the 
brilliant blow which they were about to strike against 
Spain. 

The Cadiz Expedition, 1625.—Their device was to 
fit out an expedition to capture the treasure-ships 5 of 
Spain returning from America, and it was also intended 
to make a descent on some part of the Spanish coast. 
For this purpose a strong fleet was sent out, but after 
two attempts to capture Cadiz, 6 baffled by the cowardice 
of the crews in the merchant vessels, it stood out to sea 
in search of the treasure-ships, which, two days after it 
left, stole into Cadiz Bay. 

The English ships were now forced to return, but so 
old and rotten were many of them that it was almost 
impossible to keep them afloat. 

The Buckingham Parliament, 1626.—Charles had 
thus to meet his new Parliament not only deeply involved 
in debt but disgraced by failure. The Commons met 
him with complaint and remonstrance. 

On the motion of Sir John Eliot, the fearless and 


24 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I. 


eloquent leader of the Commons, it was resolved at once 
to impeach 7 Buckingham , who was denounced by Eliot as 
having “ broken those nerves and sinews of our land, the 
stores and treasures of the king.” He was also charged 
with many acts of bribery and corruption. Charles at 
once declared his own responsibility for the acts of 
Buckingham, and rather than sacrifice his minister, dis¬ 
solved the Parliament. 

The money which the Commons would not vote, it 
was determined to raise by a forced loan, which in the 
country was met with general resistance. Payment was 
required even from the poorest tradesman. The rich 
who refused to pay were imprisoned, on the middle 
class were billeted soldiers and sailors, while the poor 
were impressed into the army and navy. 

Meantime, Buckingham led Charles into a war. with 
Prance. The Duke made a descent on the Isle of Rhe, 8 
but had to retire, having lost more than half of his 
troops. 

The Petition of Right Parliament, 1628.—Charles 
was compelled to summon a third Parliament to grant 
money for this unfortunate war. The Commons resolved 
to make the best possible use of the opportunity, and re¬ 
fused to grant supplies until Charles gave his assent to 
the famous Petition of Bight. This great measure was 
called forth by the illegal acts of the Crown between 
the second and third Parliaments. It received its name 
because it was drawn up in the form of a petition , and 
because the Commons claimed what they asked as the 
right of the people of England. 

It first referred to the old laws forbidding the impo¬ 
sition of any tax or loan without the consent of Parlia¬ 
ment, and then pointed out how the king’s officers had 


25 


THE PEKIOD OF PARLIAMENTARY RULE. 



CHARLES I. AND HIS FAMILY 




































































































































































































































26 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I, 


broken these laws. Accordingly the Commons requested 
that no sums of money should in future be exacted with¬ 
out a parliamentary grant; that men should not be im¬ 
prisoned or in any way molested for refusing to pay such 
illegal demands; that soldiers and sailors should never 
again be billeted on private houses ; 9 and that trial by 
martial law should be abolished. 

Charles at first gave his assent in a very ambiguous 
way, and only after considerable pressure did he use the 
customary phrase, “ Let right be done as it is desired.” 10 

Supplies having thus been obtained, the Parliament 
was prorogued till the spring. Buckingham in the 
meantime fitted out another magnificent expedition to 
lay siege to Rochelle, and at Portsmouth was preparing 
for embarkation, when his career was suddenly ended by 
the knife of an assassin. 

The death of Buckingham made no change in the 
policy of Charles, who soon showed that he interpreted 
the Petition of Right in a sense quite different from that 
intended by the Commons. For disputing his claims to 
levy tonnage and poundage, and opposing innovations in 
religion, the Parliament was suddenly dissolved. 11 


1. Charles was then in his twenty-fifth year. 

2. At that time, the Thames was the chief high¬ 

way of London, and the scene of the great 
royal processions. 

3. Tonnage and Poundage, i.e., import and ex¬ 

port duties on every tun of wine and on 
every jiound of certain merchandise. 

4. The Plague. In London alone over 35,000 

died in one year (1625). 

5. Treasure-ships, i.e., the ships which brought 

the gold and silver from the Spanish 
colonies in America. 

C. Cadiz, an important port on the south-west 
coast of Spain. 

7. Impeach. Impeachment is usually directed 
against an offending minister of the crown. 


The Commons act as accusers and the 
Lords as judges —the former being re¬ 
quired to prove an infraction of the law of 
the land. 

8. Rhe, an island off the west coast of France. 

9. When necessary, soldiers may still be billeted 

on public-houses and hotels. 

10. The consent of the sovereign to an Act 

of Parliament is still given in the same 
words, not in English but in the old 
French form: “ Soit droit fait comme il 
est desiri.” 

11. Eliot, who proposed the resolutions against 

the king's demands, was confined in the 
Tower, where three years afterwards he 
died. 



PERIOD OF ABSOLUTE RULE. 


2 7 


PERIOD OF ABSOLUTE RULE. 1629-1640. 



HE Rule of Thorough.— 

After Charles dissolved his 
refractory Parliament, no 
other was summoned for 
eleven years. This period 
^ of his rule has been called 
the reign of 1 Thorough/ a 
iiiame invented by Went - 
b worth , the chief instrument 
in carrying out the policy 
lit describes. 

Wentworth was a York- 
strafford. shire gentleman of good 

family, who in Parliament had been for some time an 
opponent of the measures of the court and had strongly 
supported the Petition of Right. He now joined the 
king’s party and took Buckingham’s place as chief 
minister of the crown. 

Wentworth’s ideal of ‘ Thorough ’ was that the king 
should be as thoroughly absolute “ as any prince in the 
whole world could be.” Like all despotisms, it pro¬ 
fessed to employ in the offices of State only persons 
thoroughly qualified to discharge their special duties, 
and to have a thorough regard to the prosperity and 
power of the nation. Unhappily it meant also the 
thorough extinction of all political and religious liberty 
by the tyrannical procedure of the Star Chamber 1 and 
the High Court of Commission. 2 

For his support of the king Wentworth was created 
Viscount, and appointed Lord President of the Council 
of the North. 3 From this office he was, at his own 


28 THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I. 

request, transferred as Lord Deputy 4 to Ireland. Under 
his arbitrary but able rule Ireland enjoyed a prosperity 
such as has never since fallen to her lot. The Irish 
Parliament , 5 the wishes of the people, even the written 
law, were set at nought, and having thus made the 
power of Charles absolute in Ireland he purposed to 
extend the same despotism to England. 

By the careful management of the Lord Treasurer 
Weston , a great part of the debt of the Crown was soon 
paid off; and with the prosperity following several years 
of peace, it was hoped that the nation would quietly 
submit to the arbitrary acts of the king. 

Religious Persecution.— Laud, Archbishop of Can¬ 
terbury, sought to. establish a religious rule of 
‘thorough’ no less sweeping than Wentworth’s poli¬ 
tical one. Not only did he seek to repress every form 
of Puritanism, and to establish an absolute uniformity 
in regard to belief and modes of worship, but the 
changes caused the people to fear that he wished to 
restore Catholicism. 

To escape these persecutions many Puritans emigrated 
to America. Already, more than ten years before Laud 
had succeeded to power, the small ship “ Mayflower ” 
had landed its company of Pilgrim Fathers on the shores 
of Massachusetts. 

During the persecutions of Laud, the colony was 
yearly increased by two or three thousand immigrants, 
who preferred to call that “ their country where they 
could most glorify God and enjoy the presence of their 
dearest friends.” 

Ship-Money.—In the direction of political affairs 
Laud was not in any degree more fortunate. Many 
illegal means of raising a revenue were adopted, but by 

a 


PERIOD OF ABSOLUTE RULE. 


29 


far the most notorious was the levy of Ship-Money for 
the navy. This was intended to be followed by a tax 
for the support of an army, so that, in the words of 
'Wentworth, die king “would be absolute at home and 
formidable abroad.” The objections to this imposition 
were many. It was levied without consent of Parlia¬ 
ment in defiance of old laws and of the Petition of 
Right; it had originally been meant for the defence of 
the coast from sudden attack, but it was now raised in 
a time of peace; it had 
been a tax upon seaport 
towns, it was now extended 
to inland districts—in fact, 
it was in every respect 
most unreasonable and arbi¬ 
trary. 

Accordingly the levy of 
this tax was resisted by 
John Hampden, a wealthy 
Commoner of tried character 
and great ability. He had 
already been imprisoned in J0HN hampdkn, 

the Tower for refusing to contribute to the forced loans, 
but he was as dauntless as ever. 

The judges, by a majority, decided against him, but 
the effect of the trial on the public mind more than 
counterbalanced the legal triumph of the Government. 

The National Covenant.—Matters were brought to 
a crisis by Laud’s attempt to enforce the use of a 
prayer-book in the services of the Scotch Church. 
The experiment was first made in the church of St. 
Giles, Edinburgh; but the first words uttered from 
it were the signal for a violent uproar, a stool was 




30 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I. 


aimed at the head of the bishop, and a riot ensued 
which, but for the prompt action of the authorities, 
might have had serious consequences. 

The excitement rapidly spread throughout the country. 
The Assembly of the Church solemnly abolished Epis¬ 
copacy, and it was resolved at once to form a National 
Covenant in defence of their liberty and religion. In the 
early dawn of a cold spring morning the signing of the 
Covenant was begun in the picturesque churchyard of 
Old Greyfriars, Edinburgh. The first day it was signed 
by noblemen and gentlemen of property, the next day 
the ministers and the commissioners of the boroughs, 
and then by the great mass of the people. 

It is said that some, in token of their inflexible re¬ 
solution, drew their own blood and used it in place of 
ink to sign their names. Similar scenes followed in every 
town and hamlet of the country, until the whole nation, 
almost to a man, was united in a solemn bond against 
the innovations of Laud. 

Charles sent a fleet to overawe Edinburgh, and col¬ 
lected an army at York; but the rapid advance towards 
the border of 20,000 Scots, under Leslie, induced 
him at once to treat with them and promise to consider 
their demands. Subsequently, however, the requests of 
the Scotch were rejected, and Charles resolved to renew 
the war. 


1. The Star Chamber was composed of the 

Privy Council, the two chief justices and 
certain bishops. 

2. The High Court of Commission was nomi¬ 

nated by the king, and took cognisance of 
ecclesiastical offences. 

8. The Council of the North exercised irre¬ 
sponsible authority in tin? counties north 
of the Trent, and extorted taxes and tried 
political offenders. These three Courts 
were all irresponsible and arbitrary, in so 
far as there was no appeal from their 


decision, and the punishments were sum¬ 
mary. The members of the Star Cham¬ 
ber, for instance, inflicted the severest 
punishments for disobedience to illegal 
proclamations which, as Privy Council, 
they had themselves issued. 

4. Lord Deputy, or Lord Lieutenant or Viceroy, 
who represents the Sovereign, and is in¬ 
trusted with the chief executive power. 

•. The Irish Parliament, at that time, and long 
after, represented only the Protestant 
section of the people of Ireland. 



THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 


3i 


THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

HP HE breaking waves dashed high on a stern and rock-bound 
* coast, 

And the woods against a stormy sky their giant branches 
tossed, 

And the heavy night hung dark the hills and waters o’er, 

When a band of exiles moored their bark on the wild New 
England shore. 

Not as the conqueror comes, they, the true-hearted, came— 

Not with the roll of stirring drums, and the trumpet that sings 
of fame : 

Not as the flying come, in silence and in fear— 

They shook the depths of the desert’s gloom with their hymns 
of lofty cheer. 

Amidst the storm they sang, and the stars heard, and the sea! 

And the sounding aisles of the dim wood rang to the anthems 
of the free: 

The ocean-eagle soared from his nest by the white waves’ foam, 

And the rocking pines of the forest roared—this was their 
welcome home! 

There were men with hoary hair amidst that pilgrim band ; 

Why had they come to wither there, away from their child¬ 
hood’s land ? 

There was woman’s fearless eye, lit by her deep love’s truth; 

There w r as manhood’s brow, serenely high, and the fiery heart 
of youth. 

What sought they thus afar? bright jewels of the mine? 

The wealth of seas ? the spoils of war ? They sought a faith’s 
pure shrine! 

Ay, call it holy ground, the soil where first they trod ! 

They have left unstained what there they found—freedom to 
worship God! 


Mrs. Hemans. 


THE HOUSE OE STUART—CHARLES I. 


RENEWAL OF PARLIAMENTARY RULE. 

HE Short Parliament.—To obtain the necessary sup- 



1 plies Charles summoned a Parliament in 1640 . 
As it refused to vote money till the grievances of the 
nation were redressed, it was dissolved within three weeks, 
and is thus known as the Short Parliament. 

Strafford advanced towards Scotland with what troops 
could be gathered together; but the Scotch army, both 
irritated and emboldened by the evasive policy of Charles, 
crossed the Tweed, and routing an English outpost, seized 
Newcastle. The undisciplined troops of the king could 
not be induced to attack them, and Charles was com¬ 
pelled to leave Northumberland and Durham in their 
hands as a pledge for the payment of their war ex¬ 
penses. 

The Long Parliament.—Again Charles was forced 
to summon a Parliament to grant the necessary supplies. 

The Parliament which then met, is known in history 
as the Long Parliamentf the work of which had more 
momentous consequences than those of any other Eng¬ 
lish Parliament either before or since. The Commons 
found an able and resolute leader in Pym, whose influence 
soon became so great that by friends and foes he was 
known as King Pym. The Commons, refusing to vote 
supplies, divided their work into three parts— investiga¬ 
tion of abuses, punishment of delinquents, and adoption of 
remedies. 

For the first of these duties, numerous committees 
were appointed to receive the petitions which came pour¬ 
ing in from all parts of the country. These gave full 
particulars of all the illegal acts of the Crown in the dif- 



RENEWAL OE PARLIAMENTARY RULE. 33 

ferent districts, and named the officials who had acted 
as agents of the king. They thus furnished the infor¬ 
mation required for the just punishment of the guilty. 
The name ‘ delinquent,’ as well as the more bitter 


ARREST OP STRATFORD. 

one of 4 malignant,’ had been applied in Sir John 
Eliot’s resolution of the year 1629 to all who intro¬ 
duced changes in religion, to all who advised the levying 

















34 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I. 


of taxes not granted by Parliament, to all who helped 
in the raising of such illegal subsidies, and even to those 
who voluntarily paid them. Such offenders were de¬ 
clared to be capital enemies of the Commonwealth ; and 
the Commons now determined to bring the criminals to 
trial. 

Many of the court party fled from the country; Laud 
was committed to the Tower; and it was resolved to 
impeach Strafford of high treason. It was not difficult 
to show that Strafford had frequently trampled the law 
under foot, but the evidence of treason was insufficient. 
Parliament, however, by a Bill of Attainder, condemned 
him to death. 

Charles had solemnly pledged his word to save the 
Earl at all hazards ; but his courage failed him in the diffi¬ 
cult crisis. In dread of the mob which surrounded White¬ 
hall, and not knowing how to thwart the resolve of the 
Parliament, he gave his assent to the bill, and thus 
sacrificed the life of his minister to save those of his 
own wife and children. 

“ Put not your trust in princes,” said the unfortunate 
Strafford as he went to meet his fate with proud tran¬ 
quillity. Before an immense multitude, he stepped 
cheerfully to the block on Tower Hill. The falling of 
the fatal axe was greeted with a loud shout of joy, the 
blazing of bonfires, and the ringing of bells. His death, 
they thought, had delivered their country from a terrible 
danger. 

After the death of Strafford, the Parliament imme¬ 
diately set itself to a thorough redress of abuses. The 
tyrannical courts of the Star Chamber and the High 
Commission were abolished; the levying of ship-money 
was interdicted and the sentence against Hampden an- 


RENEWAL OF PARLIAMENTARY RULE. 


35 


nulled; and all arbitrary exercise of the royal preroga¬ 
tive, either for taxation or imprisonment of the subject, 
was declared illegal. 

They next passed a Triennial Bill to prevent any 
repetition of a long period of rule without Parliament; 
and then decreed that the present Parliament should not 
be dissolved without it's own consent. 2 The money was 
then voted for the payment of the Scottish army, which 
at once returned home. 

The Immediate Causes of the Civil War. —Charles 
soon afterwards went north to Scotland and entered into 
an intrigue to win the Covenanters over to his support 
against the Parliament of England, by professing to 
yield to the demands of the Assembly. 3 All that he 
gained by this crooked policy w T as to put the Parlia¬ 
mentary leaders on their guard; and, at that very time, 
tidings arrived from Ireland which filled the nation with 
horror and increased their distrust of the king. 

There had taken place a massacre of Protestants and 
English, falsely rumoured, to the number of 200, OOO. 4 
The murderers claimed to be acting by warrant of Charles, 
and styled themselves the ‘ King’s Army.’ That Charles 
could have had any connection with them is utterly in¬ 
credible, but the Parliament at once rushed to the con¬ 
clusion that the plot was but part of one great design 
for the destruction of the liberties of the nation. 

The fears of Pym and his followers were increased by 
the growth of a strong moderate party within the House 
of Commons. They felt that, unless they kept up the 
popular excitement, their lives would be at the mercy 
of the king. Accordingly it was resolved by the leaders 
to draw up a Grand Remonstrance , giving an account of 
all the illegal acts of Charles since his accession to the 


36 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I. 


throne. It ascribed his illegal course of action to the in¬ 
fluence of evil advisers, and it demanded that only those 
persons should be admitted to his counsels who possessed 
the confidence of the Parliament. 

After a long and stormy debate, the Remonstrance 
was carried by a majority of eleven. At one time the 
temper of the members became so warm that swords 
were drawn, and a desperate personal struggle seemed 
imminent when a calm question of Hampden quieted 
the stormy scene. 

A few days afterwards the king, on his return from 
Scotland, entered the city in state, and was entertained 
at a splendid banquet in the Guildhall. The citizens, 
still loyal to their sovereign, received him with shouts 
of welcome. Elated by his enthusiastic reception in the 
city, he treated the Remonstrance, when presented to 
him at Hampton Court, with good-humoured contempt, 
and entirely ignored its demands. 

At once, the whole tone of feeling in the city com¬ 
pletely altered. Crowds of apprentices began to gather 
round Whitehall 5 during the discussion of a Bill for the 
exclusion of bishops from the Lords ; and with shouts of 
£ No bishops ! ’ hustled them on their way to the House. 
Conflicts became frequent between them and the cour¬ 
tiers. The latter, in mockery of their affected military 
air, were nicknamed Cavaliers ; 6 the former, in scornful 
allusion to their cropped hair, were dubbed Roundheads. 7 

During the disputes regarding the bishops, news 
reached Charles of an intention to impeach the queen on 
account of her supposed connection with intrigues against 
the Parliament. Pym, Hampden, and other three leaders 
were accused of high treason at the bar of the Commons 
<and their immediate arrest demanded , 8 Previous to this 


RENEWAL OF PARLIAMENTARY RULE. 


37 


their studies had been sealed up by the king’s orders. 
The Commons appointed a committee to consider his 
demand, but at the same time arrested the officers who 
had carried out the royal mandate. 

Charles "was urged by the queen to seize the five mem¬ 
bers in the House by armed force. “ Go, you coward,’’ she 
exclaimed, “ and pull these rogues out by the ears, or 
never see my face more.” When it became known that 
Charles was approaching the House with five hundred 
armed followers, the accused members left their places 
and rowed down the river to the city. Charles, when 
he took up his position at the Speaker’s chair, found 
that his ‘ birds had flown ; ’ and withdrew amid indig¬ 
nant cries of ‘ Privilege ! Privilege ! ’ 1 2 3 * * * * * 9 

The violent proceedings of the king aroused the 
darkest fears. The Commons, for greater security, with¬ 
drew to the city, where they sat in committee in the 
Guildhall and denounced the conduct of the king as 
treason. The train-bands 10 turned out in their defence ; 
and Charles, learning that they were about to return to 
Westminster, retired to Hampton Court. The time for 
compromise was now past, and both parties began to 
prepare for an appeal to the sword. 


1. The Long Parliament nominally existed for 
nearly twenty years, but it actually sat 
only from 1640 to 1653, and then for a few 
days in 1660. It was thus not in reality 
the longest Parliament; the Pension Par¬ 
liament of Charles II. sat regularly for 
eighteen years (1661-1679). . 

2. This was the first decidedly unconstitutional 

step taken by the Parliament 

3. The first immediate cause of the Civil War 

probably was what is known as the 'In¬ 

cident,' or flight of Argyle and Hamilton, 

the two leaders in Scotland of the party 

opposed to the king. Charles was believed 

to be implicated in a plot for killing or 

carrying them away. This, and the mas¬ 

sacre in Ireland, led to the drawing up of 
the Grand Kemonstrancc, by which the 
hostile feeling to Charles was revived. 


4. Most probably not over 40,000 actually 

perished. 

5. Whitehall, at that time a royal palace. Like 

Hampton Court it was granted to Henry 
VIII. by Wolsey. 

6 . Cavaliers, i.e., horsemen. 

7. Roundheads, a term of contempt, referring 

to the close-cropped hair of the Puritans. 

8 . This incident is usually called ‘ the attempted 

arrest of the five Members.’ They were 
Pym, Hampden, Huzelrig, Hollis, and 
Strode. 

9. It is one of the privileges of Parliament, that 

no member can be in any way interfered 
with for anything said or done in the 
Commons except by the action of the 
Commons themselves, 

10. Train-bands, equivalent to tint modern 
militia. 



IRELAND 


THE CIVIL WAR 



Scale cf En$ielTMLLsa 
• 5ft 1QO • _ lj Q 














































THE CIVIL WAR. 


39 


THE CIVIL WAR. 
1642-1646. 



HE Beginning of the Struggle.—The time had now 


X come when the question whether king or Parliament 
was to be supreme could only be settled by an appeal 
to arms. The struggle was to be a long and severe one ; 
in it one king lost his life, a second his throne, and a 
whole dynasty their right of succession. At its be¬ 
ginning, all moderate men regarded the contest with 
sorrow and regret. 

The king seems to have seen, before his opponents, 
that nothing but war could decide the points in dispute. 
Accordingly, the queen was sent over to Holland 1 with 
the crown jewels to raise money and purchase arms. 
The Commons urged the king to resign to Parliament 
the command of the militia—then the only standing 
force of the realm. Upon his refusal, they passed the 
necessary ordinance without his consent. 

Charles now retired to Yorkshire ; and the first actual 
check was given to his arms at Hull, on the 23rd of 
April 1642. Here, Sir John Hotham the governor 
refused either to admit the king with his party, or to 
give up to them the great magazine of arms and am¬ 
munition which had been stored there for the war 
against the Scots. Parliament also secured Portsmouth 2 
and the Tower of London, 3 and resolved to 11 put the 
kingdom in a posture of defence.” 

Geographically , it may be said that London and the 
parts about it, with the eastern counties, were devoted 
to the Parliament; while Wales, with the North and 
South-west, were on the whole inclined to the king. Of 


40 THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I. 

classes of society , the nobles and their retainers were en¬ 
thusiastically royalist; but the citizen, the merchant, 
and the artizan were firm supporters of the National 
Assembly. Finally, of religious parties , those holding 
high-church principles were unfaltering in their attach¬ 
ment to the cause and person of the monarch ; while the 
Puritans were the most formidable of his opponents, and 
the most determined adherents to the cause of popular 
liberty. 

The command of the royal army was given to the 
Earl of Lindsay, but the king himself and his nephews 
Rupert and Maurice exercised a paramount influence. 
The Earl of Essex 4 was general of the Parliamentary 
army, which began to gather in the midland counties. 

On the evening of a very stormy and tempestuous 
day in August 1642, Charles set up his standard at 
Nottingham , where he was joined by many noblemen 
and gentlemen from London. 

Cavaliers successful in Campaigns of 1642 and 
1643 .—From Nottingham, Charles proceeded westward ; 
and, having gathered a considerable force at Shrewsbury, 
resolved to march on London. Essex, advancing to 
intercept him, fell in with the royal forces encamped on 
Edgehill , 5 on the borders of Warwickshire. Led by the 
fiery Prince Rupert, 6 the cavalry of Charles dashed 
against both wings of the army of Essex and scattered 
them in headlong flight; but the Parliamentary infantry 
broke the centre of the royal line and all but captured 
the royal standard. Night fell while victory was yet 
undecided. On the morrow Essex fell back on London, 
while Charles established himself at Oxford. 

During the year 1643, the tide of success still flowed 
in favour of the Cavaliers. The noble Hampden was 


THE CIVIL WAR 


4t 



FUNERAL OF HAMPDEN 
































































42 


THE HOUSE OE STUART—CHARLES I. 


mortally wounded at Chalgrove Field , 1 in one of the 
numerous sorties of Rupert; and in the north, the 
Parliamentary army under Fairfax was defeated and 
almost driven out of Yorkshire by the gallant Earl of 
Newcastle. The midland counties, too, were completely 
in the grasp of the king; while the south-western dis¬ 
trict was, by victories at Bath, Devizes, 8 and Bristol , 
wrested out of the hands of the Parliament. 

Charles might now have marched direct upon London, 
but he turned aside and laid siege to Gloucester instead. 
He was compelled by Essex (whose army had been 
largely increased) to raise the siege; and the hopes of 
Parliament were revived by an indecisive battle at New¬ 
bury? Here the king lost one of his wisest and most 
moderate advisers—Lord Falkland, who seemed glad to 
escape by death from the miseries awaiting his country. 

Men of Religion against Men of Honour.—Mean¬ 
while, a force of a different kind was being raised in the 
eastern counties on behalf of the Parliament. The Earl 
of Manchester was the nominal general there, but the 
moving spirit and coming 1 hero ’ was a man of a 
different stamp. Oliver Cromwell, 10 a gentleman of 
Huntingdonshire, detected at once the cause of the 
Parliament’s failure and the precise method of securing 
success. The troops of Charles, he pointed out, were 
“ gentlemen’s sons, younger sons, and persons of quality,” 
while the train-bands of Essex were chiefly “ old decayed 

serving-men and tapsters.To cope with men of 

honour they must have men of religion.” 

Acting on the conviction that “ a few honest men are 
better than numbers,” and that if he “ chose godly 
men to be captains of horse, honest men would soon 
follow them,” he set himself to organise a regiment 



THE CIVIL WAR. 


43 


on these principles. In every skirmish and engagement, 
Cromwell’s ( Ironsides ’ were invincible ; and with honest 
pride he could say of them, “ Truly they were never 


beaten at all.” 


1 . Charles’3 daughter Mary was married to 
William of Orange, the Stadtholder of 
Holland. 

-• Portsmouth. It would have been of great 
advantage to the king to hold Portsmouth, 
as he could then easily have communicated 
with the Continent. 

3. The Tower of London was a strong fortress 

as well as a political prison. 

4. See note 4, page ‘21. 

5. Edgehill lies about 16 miles south of War¬ 

wick. 


6 . Rupert and Maurice were the sons of the 

Elector Palatine and Elizabeth, the sister 
of Charles. 

7. Chalgrove Field, in Berkshire, 15miles south¬ 

east of Oxford. 

S. The victories of Bath and Devizes are some¬ 
times called Lansdown and Koundway 
Doum. 

9. Newbury, in Berks, 50 miles west of London. 

See also page 44. 

10. Cromwell, the “ King of the Fens,” was born 

in 1599. 


THE CIVIL WAR —continued. 

T HE Turn of the Tide.—When Cromwell went to join 
the army in the north the tide of success suddenly 
retreated from Charles. The Scots, with whom the Par¬ 
liament had now made a Solemn League and Covenant, 1 
crossed the border under Lord Leven and joined in the 
siege of York, which was held by Newcastle with 6000 
men. 

Prince Rupert, with an army of 20,000 men, hurried 
from Lancashire to his relief, and slipped past the 
besiegers into the city. With his usual impetuosity, 
he urged Newcastle at once to give battle; and, at seven 
o’clock on the evening of July 2nd 1644, was fought 
the decisive battle of Marston Moor The right wing 
of the Parliamentary army was unsuccessful in its attack, 
and its centre was broken by the Royalist cavalry. But 
the fortunes of the day were rescued and victory won 
by the 1 Ironsides ’ of Cromwell. Having routed all 
the cavalry of Prince Rupert, they charged the royal 




44 


THE HOUSE OE STUART—CHARLES I. 


regiments of foot and put them to utter rout. By this 
disaster, 3 the whole of the north was lost to the king’s 
cause. 

Meanwhile, the king himself had defeated two Par¬ 
liamentary armies in succession. 4 The second was that 
of Essex, whose slow movements allowed Charles to 
completely surround his forces. The hesitating Earl 
escaped by sea, his cavalry cut their way through the 
enemy, but the infantry were forced to capitulate. 

Nevertheless, Parliament furnished both of their de¬ 
feated generals with new armies, and called Manchester 
with Cromwell from the north. The victorious troops of 
the king were then encountered at Newbury ; 5 the Parlia¬ 
mentary forces had the best of the engagement, but 
permitted the enemy to march off unmolested “ by 
moonlight at ten o’clock.” 

Cromwell, after vainly urging Manchester to allow 
him to pursue, charged him with “ being indisposed and 
backward in prosecuting the war.” 

The Re-Modelling of the Army, 1645 .—Parliament, 
at the instance of Cromwell, finally determined to re¬ 
model the army. In the first place, to remove those 
officers who had proved ‘ so slow in action,’ it was de¬ 
creed, by what was known as a Self-denying Ordinance, 
that no member of either House of Parliament should 
hold any command during the war. Further, it was 
resolved, that instead of a number of different armies 
under independent commanders, there should be but 
one compact, well-ordered force. 

Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed commander-in¬ 
chief; and the army, with the special assistance of 
Cromwell, was reorganised on the ‘ New Model.’ The 
aim was to raise twenty thousand men of character 


the civil war 


45 






* 

£r Umw 


/v] 




3§5g 





rC^lL?*' ■■ «*? 



n# ^1 

Up (5 t5P6 

pK$N : ^ 




•* f f 




/ ■ 




iir;> u 

ri'rV 

* ' V*‘£J 

l ak* * 



C J 




MARSTON moor. 



















46 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I. 



Facsimile of a portion of the letter written by Cromwell to the Speaker of the House of Commons 
announcing the victory of Naseby. (Engraved from the original in the Harleian MSS., British 
Museum.) See note 7 , p. 48. 


THE CIVIL WAR. 


47 


similar to the Ironsides of Cromwell. The officers, 
chosen with the utmost care, were selected from every 
station in life; many of them were gentlemen of rank 
and property, but farmers, shoemakers, and tailors were 
equally eligible. The one essential was that they 
should be men of tried ability, of resolute purpose, and 
of decided religious convictions. 

It was soon discovered that the services of Cromwell 
with the remodelled army were indispensable; and, on 
the petition of Fairfax and his officers, he was appointed 
lieutenant-general and commander of the horse. 

The Battle of Naseby.—With such an army, the 
success of the Roundheads was swift and decisive. 
Charles, who was marching northwards to join Mon¬ 
trose, 6 was encountered by the New-Model army on the 
high moors of Naseby 1 on the borders of Northampton¬ 
shire. 

As usual, the impetuous onset of Rupert carried all 
before it, but he persevered in his pursuit further than 
was prudent. Cromwell, with his Ironsides, charging 
down hill, routed the wing opposed to them ; and then, 
wheeling round, dashed into the flank of the king’s 
infantry, which broke and fled before Prince Rupert could 
come to the rescue. 

When at last the horse of Rupert returned exult¬ 
ing but exhausted, they were totally unprepared to 
meet the attack of Cromwell, and at the first charge 
“ broke all asunder.” The ruin of the royal cause was 
accomplished almost at a blow. The baggage and 
artillery of the Royalists, along with the carriage and 
private papers 8 of Charles, were left behind. Five 
thousand prisoners were taken, and the fugitives never 
again formed a- combined force. 


4 8 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I. 


The King in the hands of the Scots. —Charles, after 
wandering for ten months from stronghold to stronghold, 
decided at last to give himself up to the Scots encamped 
at Newark, in the hope that he would be able to come 
to terms with them. At first, there was some proba¬ 
bility that his attempt to win them over would be suc¬ 
cessful ; but, ultimately, they agreed to deliver him to a 
committee of the Houses on payment of ,£400,000 for 
their expenses in the war. 

Meantime, the surrender of Bristol^ g ave the death-blow 
to the royal cause in the south-west of England. With 
the capture of Harlech Castle , 20 the last stronghold of 
the king in Wales fell into the hands of the Parliament; 
and the overwhelming defeat of Montrose at Philiphaugh , 
near Selkirk, utterly extinguished the transient gleam 
of hope kindled in Scotland by the victory of Kilsyth. 


1. By this Covenant they bound themselves to 

fight for the defence of their king, their 
liberty, their religion, and of one another. 

2. Marston Moor, 5 miles west of York. 

3. Disaster, means that which is under an Evil 

Star —the word points back to the old be¬ 
lief in astrology. 

4. Those of Waller and Essex, which had sur¬ 

rounded Charles at Oxford, and might have 
compelled him to surrender but that their 
mutual jealousy caused them to separate ; 
and thus Charles was able to defeat them 
in succession—Waller at Cropredy Bridge 
in Oxfordshire, and Essex at Lostwithiel 
in Cornwall. 

6. Newbury, see note 9, page 43. 

C. During the year 1(544-5 the Scotch Royalists 
under Montrose gained several important 
victories, and made themselves masters of 
nearly the whole of Scotland. See also 
page 69. 

7. Naseby, a few miles west of Northampton. 

The latter part of Cromwell’s letter to the 
Speaker ofthe House of Commons (of which 


we give a facsimile on page 46) announcing 
the victory is as follows (spelling modern¬ 
ised) :— 

“ I wish this action may beget thankful¬ 
ness and humility in all that are concerned 
in it. He that ventures his life for the 
liberty of his country, I wish he trust God 
for the liberty of his conscience, and you 
for the liberty he fights for. In this he 
rests who is—Your most humble servant, 
“ Oliver Cromwell. 

“ June 14th, 1645.” 

8. Charles’s correspondence was then published 

under the title of ‘The King’s Cabinet 
Opened.’ 

9. Bristol was held by Rupert with a well- 

equipped force, but he surrendered at the 
first assault. This bitterly disappointed 
Charles, who immediately sent his nephew 
a passport, requesting him to leave the 
country. 

10. Harlech Castle, in Merionethshire. There 
is a famous Welsh air called the “ March 
of the Men of Harlech.” 




THE CIVIL WAR 


49 



THE KING DELIVERED TO THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSIONERS, 
(4) D 

















































































































5o 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I. 


THE KING A CAPTIVE. 



HE King in the hands of 
| the Parliament.—For four 
r months, the unfortunate 
king was a prisoner in the 
hands of the Parliament. 1 
The greater part of that 
time was spent at Holdenby 
or Holmby House in North¬ 
amptonshire. There, the 
spring and early summer of 
1647 passed quietly and 
| peacefully. Charles enjoyed 


the simple country life with 


MILTON. 


its soothing sights and sounds and its gentle sports. 
It must have been a pleasant change after these years 
of toil and combat. 

Still, he was prevented from enjoying free inter¬ 
course with his friends, and somewhat interfered with in 
the exercise of his religion. Charles, as you know, was 
an Episcopalian, while the majority of the Commons 
were Presbyterians; they had taken an oath to uphold 
the Solemn League and Covenant, had forbidden the use 
of the liturgy throughout England, and were most high¬ 
handed in their determination to abolish Episcopacy. 

The intolerance of the Presbyterians was opposed by 
the other great section of the Puritans. These Inde¬ 
pendents , 2 as they were called, were in the minority in 
Parliament, but formed the bulk of the army. The 
cause for which they had fought was not that of the 
supremacy of the Parliament, but above all things that 
of toleration and liberty of conscience. 









THE KING A CAPTIVE. 


Si 


Stern and severe as these men were, they neverthe¬ 
less were the first to proclaim that doctrine of personal 
liberty in its highest sense which it has been Eng¬ 
land’s special mission to teach to the nations of the 
earth. They were persuaded that— 

All constraint 
Except what wisdom lays on evil men, 

Is evil; hurts the faculties, impedes 
Their progress in the road of science, blinds 
The eyesight of discovery, and begets 
In those that suffer it a sordid mind, 

Bestial , 3 a meagre intellect, unfit 
To be the tenant of man’s noble form.” 

Milton, the great poet of Puritanism and the secre¬ 
tary and friend of Cromwell, has rendered himself almost 
as illustrious by his noble defence of liberty in his 
prose writings as by his immortal poem Paradise Lost* 
His hope, and that of the leaders of the army, 
was to establish a new regime in which “ Truth would 
be free to grapple with Falsehood.” Of London, his 
birthplace, he had fondly prophesied that it was about 
to become a true “city of refuge, the mansion house 
of liberty encompassed by God’s protection.” 

To weaken their opponents, Parliament, which was 
strongly supported by the city of London, resolved to 
reduce the army to twelve thousand men, who were to 
be under the command of two Presbyterian generals, and 
to be sent to quell the rebellion in Ireland. The army, 
however, refused to be disbanded, and protested that its 
arrears of pay were still due. It declared that the plan 
of the Parliament was “ a treacherous snare to separate 
the soldiers from the officers whom they loved, and to 
cover the ambition of a few men who have tasted 


52 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I. 


sovereignty, and, in order to remain masters, degenerate 
into tyrants ; ” and it also made manifest its resolve that 
the cause for which it had fought should be wrecked 
neither by the tyranny of the Parliament nor the plots 
of the king. 

The aim of Charles, as he himself confessed, was to 
“draw either the Presbyterians or the Independents 
to side with him for the extirpating of the other.” 
If he succeeded in making these two parties £ fall out,’ 
there was every likelihood that he would in this way 
‘ come to his own.’ At last he agreed to favour 
Presbyterianism for at least three years, and it was 
rumoured that on this condition the Parliament were 
about to permit him to return to London. 

The King in the hands of the Army.—In such a crisis, 
hesitation was ruin; and the army at once set the Par¬ 
liament at defiance. On the morning of the 3d of June 
1647, a certain Cornet Joyce with 500 men appeared 
at Holdenby House, where the king was still in charge 
of the guard of the commissioners. When he appeared 
before Charles and informed him that he must set out to 
the army at Newmarket, the king asked him for his 
commission. “ It is behind me,” said Joyce, pointing 
to his soldiers ; upon which Charles, with good-humoured 
flattery, remarked that it “ was written in very fine and 
legible characters.” When Fairfax afterwards declared to 
the king that he had given no commission for the seizure, 
Joyce said, “ I acted by order of the army. Let it be 
assembled, and if three-fourths do not approve of the act, 
I consent to be hanged at the head of my regiment.” 

Charles remained in the hands of the army for six 
months. He accompanied it as it gradually advanced 
from Newmarket to London, and was then lodged in his 


THE KING A CAPTIVE. 


53 


palace of Hampton Court. He was there treated with 
the utmost respect, and his circumstances had the out¬ 
ward appearance of royal splendour. He was indeed a 
prisoner, and carefully guarded; but his friends were 
allowed to visit him, his heart was gladdened by the 
sight of his children, and there was no interference with 
the performance of his religious duties. 

Further, the officers submitted most favourable terms 
for settling the matters in dispute—terms much more 
moderate than the Parliament had been willing to offer, 
and remarkably mild for men of such strong convictions 
and unflinching determination. Episcopacy was to be 
restored, but a religious liberty almost as complete as 
that enjoyed in England at the present time was to be 
permitted. 

Charles seemed to regard these proposals favourably; 
but all the time he was secretly treating with the leaders 
of the Presbyterian party in Parliament, as well as with 
the Scots and the Irish. While we cannot overlook this 
double-dealing, we must remember that the king believed 
in his divine right, and regarded both Presbyterians and 
Independents as wicked enemies whom it was lawful to 
defeat in any possible way. 

The feeling between Parliament and army—which 
really meant between Presbyterians and Independents 
—became more and more bitter. Accordingly the king, 
thinking his opportunity had come, began to frown upon 
the very favourable terms he had before seemed to 
accept. His friends were astonished, and remonstrated 
with him. “You will soon see,” said he, “that they 
will be only too glad to propose more just conditions.” 

One of the officers 5 warned him. “ Sire, it is not you 
who can be the judge between the Parliament and us, but 


54 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I. 


we who are willing to mediate between the Parliament 
and you.” Charles confidently replied, “ You cannot be 
without me ; you will fall to ruin if I do not uphold you.” 

It seemed at one time as if the king were correct in 
his judgment. The Parliament began to enrol the 
militia of London for their defence, the Presbyterian 
populace of the capital became more and more turbulent, 
and the Independent minority of the Commons took 
refuge in the camp. A bloody struggle seemed impend¬ 
ing ; when the army boldly entered the city, forced 
their opponents to give them a humble welcome, and 
restored the fugitive members of Parliament, which at 
once yielded all their demands. 

Even then, when the army was supreme, Charles 
finally refused the terms which had been so often pressed 
upon him. The officers felt that it was hopeless to treat 
further with him, and realised that to preserve their 
own safety it would be better to leave him to himself. 
Charles was now treated with far less respect, his 
friends were dismissed from his side, and his guards 
were doubled. A large number of the army, named the 
levelling party, began to clamour for justice on him 
whom they denounced as the 4 chief delinquent.’ 6 
Charles may probably have become afraid of bodily 
harm; it is said, indeed, that he received an unsigned 
letter warning him of the urgency of his danger. 7 How¬ 
ever that may be, on the night of the I I th of November 
he made his escape from what had become a hated and 
even a dangerous prison. 


The king was handed over to th§ Parliament 
on the 30th of January 1647. Strangely 
enough he was executed on the very same 
day of the month two years later. 

Independents or Congregationalists. They 
were opposed to all State Establishments 
of religion. 


3. Bestial, like that of beasts. 

4. Paradise Lost, the finest epic poem in our 

language, was not published till 1667. 

5. Ireton, Cromwell’s son-in-law. 

6. Delinquent. See page 33. 

7. Some say that the letter was written by 

Cromwell himself. 



THE LAST STRUGGLE FOR THE KING. 


55 


THE LAST STRUGGLE FOR THE KING. 

HARLES at Carisbrooke.—A horse was standing 
ready for the fugitive king outside the grounds of 
the palace, and accompanied by a few faithful friends he 
hastened towards the south-west. The night was so dark 
and stormy that they lost their way in passing through 
the New Forest. Misfortune now seemed to have marked 
Charles for her own. He found no place of safety in 
England ; and, having reached Southampton, he resolved 
to take refuge in the Isle of Wight. 

The governor of that island, Colonel Hammond, was 
nephew of one of the 
king’s chaplains ; and 
Charles was, accord¬ 
ingly, sanguine that 
he would be able to 
win him over. But 
Hammond, though he 
“ turned suddenly 
pale” at the difficult 
position in which he 
was placed, could not 
be persuaded to be a 
traitor to the army. 

Charles was removed by him to Carisbrooke Castle, a 
fortress on the coast, where, although his friends were 
permitted freely to visit him, he was kept under the 
closest guard. He was once more a prisoner. 

The news of the king’s escape awakened a mutinous 
spirit among the ‘ Levellers ’ of the army; and at the 
rendezvous at Ware 1 two of the regiments displayed in 











56 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I. 


their hats the motto, “ The people’s freedom and the 
soldier’s rights.” 

At once Cromwell galloped np to the ranks. “ Take 
that paper from your hats,” he cried to them. “ Never, 
till justice has been done,” was the defiant reply. 
“ The man of action ” was equal to the occasion. Dash¬ 
ing resolutely into their midst, he ordered eleven of the 
ringleaders to be seized and tried by court-martial on 
the spot. Three of the eleven were condemned to death, 
and of these one was chosen by lot and immediately shot. 

Order and discipline were thus restored; but the 
soldiers firmly told the lieutenant-general that they 
were determined to bring the king to trial, and that no 
severity would turn them from their purpose. The 
leaders of the army were gradually coming to adopt the 
views of the men, and ceased to regard any compromise 
with the king as possible. 

Charles remained at Carisbrooke for a full year. He 
was, in every respect, most courteously treated ; and, 
being at a distance from his most violent enemies, his 
spirits revived and he endeavoured to treat as before 
with the various parties. 

When informed of the suppression of the mutiny of 
the Levellers, he sought to re-open negotiations with the 
officers. The time had gone by for that. The stern 
reply was that “ the army has no answer to give to the 
proposals of His Majesty.” One cannot help feeling in 
reading of this doomed king’s sad career how completely 
he forgot the counsel of our great dramatist:— 

“Hope at the prow, but prudence at the helm ; 

Caution to wisely watch, and take command 
When it is timely : fools §.re cautious too 
When ’tis too late, and prudent when ’tis vain.” 


THE LAST STRUGGLE FOR THE KING. 


57 


Next, Parliament approached the king with four 
bills, which they presented as an ultimatum. Charles, 
however, entered into a secret treaty with the Scots 
and rejected the proposals of the Houses. In indigna¬ 
tion, Parliament passed a resolution branding as a 
traitor every one who either received any message from 
the king or made application to him. 

Second Civil War. — There immediately set in a 
strong reaction in favour of the king, which led to a 
renewal of the war. The Scots had agreed to send an 
army of 40,000 men, under the Duke of Hamilton, 
to assist in restoring him to the throne; and the news 
from Scotland at once roused into activity all the 
slumbering Royalist feeling in England. 

But for the presence of a strong force, London, too, 
would have welcomed the return of Charles with ac¬ 
clamation. Even as it was, the apprentices surprised 
the guards; and having seized a large quantity of arms, 
paraded the streets with cries of “ God and King 
Charles,” and for forty hours held command of the city. 
The fleet in the Downs, 2 from jealousy of the army, 
also declared for the king, and were prepared to give 
him active support whenever an opportunity arose. 
Wales was already in general revolt, while the 
men of Kent and Essex gathered in arms on Black- 
heath. 3 

Leaving Fairfax to hold London and to deal with the 
southern rising, Cromwell marched rapidly to the west. 
He had quelled the Welsh insurrection in time to defeat 
a force of cavaliers under Langdale, and immediately to 
fall upon the Scotch army at Preston before tidings 
reached it that he was in the field. 

The battle lasted three days, the Scots slowly retreat- 



58 THE HOUSE OF STUART— CHARLES I. 

ing and making a stand wherever possible, until they 
broke up in such utter disorder that, but for the fact 
that the horse of Cromwell were all ‘ beaten out,’ scarcely 
one would have escaped either death or capture. 

Cromwell pushed on rapidly towards Edinburgh, but 
before he arrived, his purpose had been accomplished by 
a rising of the Scottish Covenanters, 4 who established 
the Earl of Argyle in power. Cromwell was received 
with the warmest welcome, and was entertained at a 


great banquet in the Castle; but meantime events were 
happening in London which demanded his speedy 
return. 

The King once more in the hands of the Army. 
—While the army was thus engaged in the field, the 
Parliament seized the opportunity of once more making 
proposals to the king. 5 Charles, with fatal persistence, 
contested every point. The army had returned vic- 


COLONEL PRIDE EXCLUDING THE MEMBERS FROM THE COMMONS. 









THE LAST STRUGGLE FOR THE KING. 


59 


torious before an agreement liad been reached, and it 
was then too late. 

It was well known what the spirit of the stern 
soldiery was. Even before they had set out to quell 
the recent risings, they had declared that settlement 
with the king was for ever impossible, and had resolved 
to call Charles to “ account for the blood shed in the civil 
war.” Their leaders now resolved to act. 

A troop of horse was sent to bring Charles from 
Newport to the solitary fortress of Hurst Castle, on 
the Hampshire coast. There the unhappy monarch 
remained for a fortnight, confined in a room “ so dark 
that at mid-day torches were required to light it.” 

Meanwhile, the army marched to London and quar¬ 
tered itself in Whitehall and the neighbouring suburbs. 
On the day after the Commons had accepted the 
terms of the king, Colonel Pride stationed himself at 
the door of the Commons with a written list of certain 
members’ names in his hand, who as they arrived were 
forcibly removed to the Queen’s Court. The process, 
afterwards known as Pride's Purge , was twice repeated ; 
and in this way two hundred Presbyterians 6 who were 
disposed to be lenient towards the king were forcibly 
excluded from the deliberations of the House. There 
was thus left a skeleton Parliament of about fifty or 
sixty Independent members, known as the Rump, and 
all power was now in the hands of the army. 


1. Ware, 2 miles west of Hertford. 

2 The Downs, a large anchorage between the 


4. Covenanters, also called Whiggamores, from 


which the term Whig was derived. 

5. Known as the Treaty of Newport.. 

6. They were re-admitted in 16fi0. 


Kentish coast and the Goodwin Sands. 
2. Blackheath, in Kent, near Greenwich. 





6o 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I. 



WINDSOR CASTLE. 


THE FATE OF THE KING. 


HE King removed to Windsor.—In the middle of 



1 a cold December night, Charles was awakened 
in his cheerless cell at Hurst by a great noise in the 
courtyard. 

“ What is that ? ” he asked his faithful servant 
Herbert, who hurried in. 

“ It is Colonel Harrison, sire,” was the reply. 

The tears started into the deserted monarch’s eyes. 
“ Do not think I am afraid, Herbert,” he said, “ but 
this man is the same Harrison who threatened to assas¬ 
sinate me, and this would be indeed a fitting place for 
such a deed. Go ask if that be his purpose.” 

When Herbert quickly returned to tell the king 
he was to be conducted to Windsor, he was very 
joyful. 

“ Ah ! ” cried he, “ that is better. They are becom¬ 
ing gentler and more just. I have spent many happy 





THE FATE OF THE KING. 


61 


days at Windsor, and when there will soon forget this 
dismal prison.” 

It seemed at first as if Charles was right. The early 
days of his brief stay at the noble castle formed indeed 
a gladsome change from dreary Hurst. He occupied his 
own royal apartments, was treated with the wonted 
ceremony paid to kings, and might well dream that the 
sceptre would once more be his. 

This brief glimpse of sunshine was soon to be buried 
in the deepest gloom. On the very day of his arrival at 
his loved palace, a bill was passed through Parliament 
ordering his trial. Little more than a week afterwards, 
on the 1st of January 1649, it was declared high 
treason for any one to levy war against the Parliament 
of England, and a High Court of Justice was appointed 
to decide whether Charles had been guilty of that crime 
or not. 

In vain, the remnant of the Peers refused to pass 
such an ordinance; in vain, Lord Manchester protested 
that as there could be no Parliament without the king, 
it was utterly absurd to accuse the king of having been 
a traitor to the Parliament. The fragment of the 
Commons left by Pride, supported by a now all-powerful 
army, determined to act alone. 

At once, the treatment of the captive was changed. 
The canopy was plucked down from over his royal chair, 
and he was treated as an ordinary prisoner. He felt 
this contempt most bitterly, and exclaimed, “ Is any¬ 
thing more despicable than a powerless and insulted 
prince r 

Trial of the King.—Events now hurried rapidly on 
to the fatal end. The trial began on the 20th of 
January, the royal victim was condemned in a week 


62 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I. 


and three days afterwards the terrible death-sentence 
was carried into execution. 

Nothing could have been more illegal than these 
proceedings. Not the worst of Charles’ acts was so 
utterly unconstitutional. No freeman can be con¬ 
demned “ without the lawful judgment of his peers, or 
according to the law of the land.” 1 Now, this so-called 
High Court of Justice was not composed of the peers of 
the king, for the monarch has no peers within the 
realm. Neither was it according to the law, for no 
Court can be legally appointed without the consent of 
King, Lords, and Commons ; while this tribunal had been 
named not even by the Commons alone, but by the 
miserable ‘ Rump ’ spared by the triumphant soldiery. 

Accordingly, when the king was brought into the 
hall of judgment at Westminster, he rightly refused to 
acknowledge the legal authority of the court, and would 
not plead to the charge that he was “ a tyrant, traitor, 
murderer, and public enemy to the nation.” 

Daring that terrible week of trial, Charles acted 
with noble dignity, patience, and calmness. The people 
were filled with sympathy for their doomed sovereign. 
Day after day, tearful cries of “ God save your Majesty,” 
“ God deliver you from your enemies,” greeted him as 
he passed to and from the presence of his self-appointed 
judges. But these cries were met with much more de¬ 
termined demands from the stem soldiers; “ Justice! 
Justice ! Execution ! Execution ! ” burst again and again 
upon the ears of the prisoner and judges alike. 

Death of the King.—At last the dreadful sentence 
was pronounced. Charles Stuart had but three days to 
live, and these he spent in calm devotion. He saw no 
one but his servant Herbert, his friend and spiritual 


THE FATE OF THE KING. 63 

adviser Bishop Juxon, and his children the Princess 
Elizabeth 2 and the young Duke of Gloucester. 

Few scenes in history are more fitted to awaken pity 
than the sad parting with these little ones upon the 
last day of his life upon earth. The Princess, a girl of 
twelve years, burst into tears at the sight of her loved 
father; and along with her, his little son £ lifted up his 
voice and wept.’ Charles sent a loving message to his 
wife, telling her he would love her to the last sad 
moment of his life as on the first glad day; to his elder 



WHITEHALL. 

sons, he sent word that he heartily forgave his enemies 
and wished them no evil. Then he kissed his children, 
and bade them a long farewell. 

On the morrow, he calmly prepared to change his 
“ corruptible for an incorruptible crown.” The scaffold 
was erected outside the banqueting house of Whitehall, 3 
where the kings of England had been accustomed to 
show themselves to the people after their coronation. 

The immense crowd which thronged the streets and 
occupied the roofs of the houses and other points of 










64 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES I. 


vantage, heard nothing of the speech in which Charles 
declared that he came there for refusing to allow all 
things to be changed by the sword, and died as the 
martyr of the liberties of the people. They witnessed in 
awed silence the calm dignity with which he met his 
fate, and at the fall of the fatal axe their pent-up feel¬ 
ings found vent in a low and painful murmur of sym¬ 
pathy and grief. 

For seven days the body was exposed at Whitehall, 
and it is said that Cromwell himself gazed upon the 
face of the dead. A few faithful followers of the de¬ 
parted prince were then allowed to bear his remains to 
St. George’s Chapel , 4 Windsor, but were forbidden to 
perform the rites of the English Church, of which the 
king had to the last declared himself a member. 

As the little cortege crossed the court-yard, snow fell 
heavily and covered with its white mantle the gloomy 
funeral pall. The mourning friends recalled how the 
dead monarch had been crowned in a white robe , 5 as now 
he was buried. That they had regarded as an omen of 
his misfortunes, this they hailed as a sign of the inno¬ 
cence of one whom they ever afterwards called £ the 
martyr king.’ 

1. This is one of the leading principles of Magna i the palace of Whitehall now remaining. 

Charta. 4. Here Henry VIII. was also buried. 

2. Elizabeth died in captivity at Carisbrooke. 5. From this Charles was often called the 

3. The banqueting house is the only part of I “ White King. ” 




THE COMMONWEALTH. 


65 


THE COMMONWEALTH. 1649-1653. 

HE New Form of Government. — The execution 



1 of Charles was the work of but a fraction of the 
nation. The Royalists 1 throughout England, although 
defeated and disappointed, were still numerous, and 
looked with mingled feelings of horror and hatred 
upon the cruel deed. The Prcsbytei'ians , 2 at that time 
probably a majority of the nation, had fought to pre¬ 
serve their religion, not to overthrow the throne, far 
less to take the life of their king; they regarded what 
had been done with the utmost aversion. These two 
sections numbered fully three-fourths of the people. 

There remained to approve of the deed only the 
Independents 3 —comparatively few in numbers, but en¬ 
thusiastic, determined, and confident in the justice of 
their cause and in the skill of their leaders. This last 
party was supported by the army—then the most for¬ 
midable and best disciplined force in Europe. 4 

Immediately after the seven-days’ exposure of the body 
of the late king (ere his grave had yet received its dead), 
the members, 5 left after the repeated ‘ purgations ’ of what 
had once been the House of Commons, abolished the 
1 office of king ’ as “in this country useless and danger¬ 
ous to the liberty, security, and good of the people.” 
They also appointed an executive Council of forty-one 
members, who were for one year to preserve quiet at 
home, make war or peace abroad, and control commerce. 

Of this Council, Bradshaw, who had been leader of 
the tribunal which condemned Charles, was made Presi¬ 
dent ; but Cromwell was the actual head of the execu¬ 
tive, and his power increased day by day. 


66 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


This form of government was called the ‘ Common¬ 
wealth ; ’ but it had in no way been sanctioned by 
the voice of the people, and a free appeal to the 
country would at once have led to its rejection. It had 
been in fact created by the mere remnant of a House 
of Commons elected nine years before, and was really 
the rule of a hundred men -supported by a victorious 
army. Such a system is most correctly termed an 
Oligarchy, 6 or government by the few. 

How the Commonwealth was received in England. 
—The new government was threatened, both at home and 
abroad, by the most overwhelming dangers. The people 
looked upon it with dislike. For four months, the 
Council shrank from proclaiming the ‘ Commonwealth ’ 
in London ; and when they did so, the aldermen showed 
their dislike by remaining absent. “ What was being 
done was opposed to my conscience and contrary to my 
oath,” boldly answered one of them when questioned ; 
“ My heart was not in this work,” replied another. 

There appeared many other indications of the popular 
feeling. 

When the forty-one newly appointed Councillors were 
required to sign a declaration approving of the execution 
of the King and the abolition of the royal office, twenty- 
two refused. They agreed to serve the Commonwealth 
faithfully as the only existing form of government, but 
firmly declined to give their sanction to the past. 

The same spirit was shown when the Council thought 
to check the spread of the royalist feeling by bringing 
to trial the captive leaders whom they had in their 
power. The Duke of Hamilton, Lord Holland and 
Lord Capel were condemned and brought to the block. 
But the execution of these noblemen—especially of the 


THE COMMONWEALTH. 


67 


last named, a virtuous and able man—called forth such 
expressions of sorrow and sympathy, that the Council 
thought it wise to adopt other methods of dealing with 
their prisoners. 

One more incident may be mentioned. There ap¬ 
peared a book called 1 The Royal Image,’ 7 giving, as it 
were, a portrait of the late king. It was supposed to 
be written by Charles himself, 8 and presented a vivid 
picture of his inner life—his mingled pride and piety, 
and his devotion to his religion, his honour, and his 
divine right as king. Thousands of copies were sold, 9 
and the book caused a complete change of feeling in 
many who had formerly opposed the royal claims. 

In a word, had it not been for the army, the Oli¬ 
garchy would not have lasted a day. And now danger 
threatened the government from this its chief support. 
There were still among the soldiers a large number of 
the enthusiasts called ‘ Levellers.’ 10 These men had 
looked for a true republic, where every man should have 
a voice in the government, and all should be equal; but 
they now found that they had merely changed a weak 
master for a very strong one. Their leader was an 
eloquent and fearless man, Colonel Lilburne or ‘ Free 
born John,’ 11 as he was familiarly called. 

“ 1 would rather,” he said, “ live seven years under 
the government of the old King Charles, although they 
have cut off his head as a tyrant, than one year under 
the present tyranny.” 

When this fiery agitator was committed to the Tower, 
insurrection broke out in several regiments ; and it was 
not without the greatest difficulty that Fairfax and 
Cromwell crushed out the mutiny. The danger had 
been extreme; and to make matters still worse for the 


6S 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


government, Lilburne was acquitted amidst the joyous 
cheers of the people—so loud u that no voice could be 
heard in the Hall for more than half an hour.” 

The Oligarchy became more and more unpopular; 



MUTINY OF THE LEVELLERS. 


and, as their star sank, that of Cromwell rose. Men had 
begun to look to him as the means of escape from the 
‘ tyranny of the few,’ and events soon happened which 
increased his fame and made his influence still greater. 


1. Chiefly Episcopalians and Roman Catholics. 

2. See note 6, page 12. 

3. See note 2, page 54. 

4. Fairfax was the General-in-Chief, but Crom¬ 

well, the second in command, had really 
more power. 

5. Contemptuously called the Rump (see page 

59), now increased to about 100 indi¬ 
viduals. 

6. Oligarchy, a form of government in which 

the supreme power is vested in a few 
individuals. 


7. The title was in Greek, Eikon Basilikon , i.e., 

the Royal Image. 

8. It was really written by Dr. Gauden, after¬ 

wards Bishop of Worcester. The book, it 
is said, was finally revised and corrected 
by Charles in his captivity. 

9. As many as 48,000 copies were sold in one 

year. 

10. Levellers, see page 55. 

11. Lilburne wrote many pamphlets. The chief 

one was "The New Chains of England 
Discovered/ 























/* <-'* 


THE LAST OF THE OLD CAVALIERS. 


69 


THE LAST OF THE OLD CAVALIERS. 



MONTBOSE. 


HE Great Marquis.—When 
the Scots had handed over 
Charles I. to the English 
Parliament, they had ex¬ 
pressly stipulated for his per¬ 
sonal safety. Accordingly, 
when the news of his exe¬ 
cution reached Edinburgh, 
they denounced the act as 
a breach of faith and imme¬ 
diately proclaimed Charles 
II. as king. 

Some of the people of 
Scotland were enthusiastically royalist, and would at 
once have welcomed Charles with open arms. Of this 
party, the leader was the brilliant and noble Marquis 
of Montrose , the most chivalrous of Charles’ supporters. 
But the majority of the Scots were Presbyterians and 
Covenanters, less anxious for the success of the Stuart 
cause than for the triumph of the doctrines of the Cove¬ 
nant. The head of this party, and the rival of Montrose, 
was the Earl of Argyle. 

The Scottish Parliament accordingly began to treat 
with the young king; they would not, however, receive 
him except on condition of his signing the Covenant, 
and promising to rule by the aid of Parliament and the 
General Assembly of the Kirk. 1 All this was intensely 
distasteful to Charles; and he held back, while one 
more effort was being made for him by the daring leader 



70 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


of the Scottish royalists, who had determined to take the 
matter into his own hands, and— 

“ To put it to the touch, 

To gain or lose it all.” 2 

While he was collecting troops in the northern countries 
of Europe he received an urgent letter 3 from Charles, 
saying, “ I entreat you to go on vigorously with your 
wonted courage and care. ... I assure you, I am upon 
the same principles as I was, and depend as much as 
ever upon your undertakings and endeavours for my 
service.” 

Misfortune from the outset attended the enterprise. 
The first division of the expedition was wrecked; and 
when the leader landed in the Orkneys, he found only 5 00 
foreign troops—chiefly Germans. His march southwards 
—with a banner bearing the head of Charles I. and the 
motto, “ Judge and revenge my cause, O Lord ”—was full 
of bitter disappointment. None of the chiefs who had 
promised to join him did so. The memory of their 
former hardships and defeat 4 was too recent for the 
Highlanders to court a repetition of them. At last his 
small force was surprised by the cavalry of Leslie 5 on 
the borders of Ross-shire, and most of them taken 
prisoners. Montrose himself, after wandering for some 
time in the guise of a peasant, was betrayed to the 
Covenanters, sentenced to death, and, after enduring the 
vilest contumely and insult, was executed as a public 
enemy at the Cross of Edinburgh. 

He bore his fate with heroic dignity and calmness; it 
is said that the hostile crowd was awed into silence by 
his lofty sadness, and that the very executioner wept as 
he placed the rope round his neck. The following 


THE LAST OF THE OLD CAVALIERS. 


7i 


verses 6 by Professor Aytoun , 7 give a very vivid account 
of “ how the great Marquis fell ”:— 

They brought him to the water-gate, 

Hard bound with hempen span , 8 
As though they held a lion there, 

And not a fenceless 9 man. 

They set him high upon a cart— 

The hangmen rode below ; 

They drew his hands behind his back, 

And bared his noble brow; 

Then as a hound is slipped from leash, 

They cheered—the common throng— 

And blew the note with yell and shout, 

And bade him pass along. 

But when he came, though pale and wan, 

He looked so great and high— 

So noble was his manly front, 

So calm his steadfast eye, 

The rabble rout 10 forbore to shout, 

And each man held his breath ; 

For well they knew the hero’s soul 
Was face to face with death. 

And then a mournful shudder 
Through all the people crept, 

And some that came to scoff at him 
Now turned aside and wept. 


The morning dawned full darkly, 

The rain came flashing down, 

And the jagged streak of the levin-bolt 11 
Lit up the gloomy town ! 

The thunder crashed across the heaven— 
The fatal hour was come ! 



7 2 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


Yet aye broke in with muffled beat 
The ’larum of the drum. 

There was madness on the earth below, 
And anger in the sky ; 

And young and old, and rich and poor, 
Came forth to see him die. 

“ He is coming ! he is coming ! ” 

Like a bridegroom from his room, 

Came the hero from his prison 
To the scaffold and the doom. 

There was glory on his forehead, 

There was lustre in his eye, 

And he never walked to battle 
More proudly than to die. 

There was colour in his visage, 

Though the cheeks of all were wan ; 

And they marvelled as they saw him pass, 
That great and goodly man. 

He mounted up the scaffold, 

And he turned him to the crowd; 

But they dare not trust the people, 

So he might not speak aloud.. 

But he looked upon the heavens, 

And they were clear and blue, 

And in the liquid ether 

The eye of God shone through. 

Yet a black and murky battlement 
Lay resting on the hill , 12 

As though the thunder slept within— 

All else was calm and still. 

A beam of light fell on him, 

Like a glory round the shriven ! 

And he climbed the lofty ladder 
As it were the path to heaven. 


CROMWELL IN IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 


73 


Then came a flash from out the cloud, 
And a stunning thunder-roll; 

And no man dared to look aloft, 

For fear was on every soul. 

There was another heavy sound, 

A hush and then a groan, 

And darkness swept across the sky — 
The work of death was done. 


1. Kirk, Scotch form of “ Church," here means 

the Established Church of Scotland. 

2. From the Marquis' own song, “m never 

love thee more.” 

3. Dated 19th September 1649. 

4. Montrose had led a brilliant enterprise in 

1644 and 1645. After many victories he 
was defeated at Philiphaugh, near Selkirk. 
See page 48. 


5. Under Colonel Straehan, April 27tli, 1650. 

6. From " The Execution of Montrose." 

7. Aytoun was Professor of English Literature 

in the University of Edinburgh. 

8. Span, a rope, literally anything spun. 

9. Fenceless, t.e., defenceless. 

10. Rout, disorderly crowd. 

11. Levin-bolt, lightning-bolt, thunder bolt. 

12. The Castle of Edinburgh. 


CROMWELL IN IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 

C ROMWELL in Ireland.—It was in Ireland, how¬ 
ever, that affairs wore the most threatening aspect. 
After the execution of Charles, the Catholics had united 
with the Royalists ; and under the Marquis of Ormond, 
an army had been raised on behalf of Charles II., who 
was proclaimed King. This force acted with such 
vigour, that soon, with the exception of Dublin and 
Londonderry, the royal standard floated over every town 
and stronghold of the land. 

Dublin was next surrounded, but the royal army was 
completely defeated in a sortie of the garrison , 1 and 
forced to raise the siege. It is said that, when Charles 
heard in Holland of this defeat, he was eager to hurry 
over to fight by the side of his friends. 

“ ’Twere better to perish there with them,” he said, 
“ than to live here in dishonourable ease while others 
die for me/’ 




74 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


This noble sentiment went no further than words ; he 
lived where he was, and his faithful adherents, alas ! 
were left to die alone. 2 

It was at this crisis that Cromwell arrived. 3 He 
brought with him the flower of the English army—a re¬ 
inforcement bringing up the total number of Parliamen¬ 
tary troops in the island to 10,000 infantry and 5000 
cavalry. He at once restored strict discipline throughout 
the force, and set himself to carry on the war with relent¬ 
less severity. The royal troops were distributed in the 
strongest fortresses of the country, and Cromwell’s plan 
was to give the garrisons the choice of immediate sur¬ 
render or 1 the extreme severity of a storm.’ 4 

He first marched northward from Dublin to Drogheda, 
which was held by 3000 troops—chiefly Englishmen, 
and all trained soldiers. It was taken by storm after a 
desperate defence ; and the defenders were, by the express 
command of Cromwell, put to the sword. 

Some Irish historians declare that not only the garri¬ 
son, but all the inhabitants of the town, regardless of 
sex or age, were indiscriminately slaughtered. Although 
of this there is no proof worthy of the name, the Irish 
people retain such a recollection of the severity of this 
and other acts that one of their bitterest maledictions is, 
“ The curse of Cromwell on you.” 

Cromwell seems to have thought that by acting thus 
ruthlessly in the beginning of the war, he could so 
terrify his opponents that they would in subsequent 
encounters yield readily and without much further 
bloodshed. His own words were : “ The enemy upon this 
were filled with much terror, and truly I believe this 
bitterness will save much effusion of blood , through the 
goodness of God,” 


CROMWELL IN IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 


75 


The East and South of Ireland were soon subdued. 
At Wexford, a stubborn struggle took place, and a 
slaughter of 2000 of the garrison followed. Cork, 
Kinsale, and other towns surrendered without resistance. 

Meanwhile the severity of the Independent army 
towards members of the Homan Catholic faith filled the 
Irish with intense bitterness, so that they prolonged the 
contest with a tenacity which for a time baffled Crom¬ 
well’s utmost efforts. It took ten months before the 
most important strongholds were captured, and the work 
was still incomplete 5 when the victor was recalled to 
England by events which threatened the very existence 
of the Republic. 

Cromwell in Scotland.—Although Charles had, as you 
have read, urged Montrose on to his enterprise, he now 
most basely and selfishly disavowed his noble champion, 
declared that he had forbidden the attempt, and accepted 
the conditions of the Scottish Parliament. 6 He then 
left Holland and came to Scotland, but he was not 
allowed to land until he had signed the Covenant. The 
Scots at once set themselves in earnest to raise a cove¬ 
nanting army, the command of which was given to 
David Leslie. 7 

The Commonwealth of England now determined to 
send a force against these supporters of the king. The 
command was offered to Fairfax, but he refused to 
interfere with the right of the Scots to choose their own 
sovereign. Cromwell was then appointed commander- 
in-chief, and thus openly occupied the position of 
supremacy which he had long held in reality. 

Within one month of the landing of Charles, an 
invading force of 10,000 splendid troops passed through 
Berwick. 8 In obedience to orders from head-quarters, 


76 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


and terrified by tbe fearful accounts of Cromwell’s 
severity in Ireland, the inhabitants had deserted the 
whole district through which the English army had to 
pass; and, before going, they had destroyed everything 
they could not carry with them. 

Cromwell was thus forced to keep close to the coast 
so as to draw supplies from his fleet. In this way he 



VIEW OP OLD EDINBURGH. 


advanced as far as Edinburgh, which was most skilfully 
defended by Leslie. But want of provisions and illness 
among his troops at last forced him to retreat. As he re¬ 
tired, he was pursued by the Scots ; and, at Dunbar, 9 his 
army would have been destroyed or forced to take refuge 
with the fleet, had not the rash advance of the enemy at 
the last moment enabled him to win a great victory. 10 












CROMWELL IN IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 


77 


From Dunbar the victor advanced upon Edinburgh. 
As Leslie withdrew to Stirling with the remains of his 
army, the city was undefended ; but the castle held out 
for three months. In order to cut off the supplies of the 
army at Stirling, Cromwell crossed into Fife, which ho 
subdued, and then advanced as far west as Perth. 

Meanwhile the young king was crowned at Scone , 11 in 
the first month of the new year . 12 Presbyterians and 
Royalists united in his defence, and he was put 
in actual command of the army. Seeing 1 no force be- 
tween himself and England, Charles resolved to march 
boldly southwards. To all Leslie's arguments he turned 
a deaf ear, and assured the Scots that the whole body of 
English Royalists only awaited his presence to rise 
against their hated oppressors. 


1. 3d August 1649. 

2. It was afterwards said of Charles that he 

never said a foolish thing, and never did 
a wise one. 

3. 15th August 1649. 

4. This phrase often meant * ‘death with the sword 

to all found with arms in their hands.” 

5. The reduction of Ireland was completed by 

Ireton, Fleetwood, and Ludlow. 

6. This is sometimes called the Treaty oj Breda. 

from the town in Holland where it was 
signed. 

7. There was also present the aged Alexander 

Leslie, Earl of Leven. David Leslie had 
served in the Thirty Years' "War under 


the famous Gustavus Adolphus. 

8. All English armies invading Scotland in¬ 

variably passed through either Carlisle or 
Berwick. 

9. Dunbar, in Haddingtonshire, 28 miles east 

of Edinburgh. 

10. September 3, 1650. The battle of Worcester 

was fought ou the same day of the same 
month exactly a year later. Cromwell 
died on the third of September also. 

11. Scone, the crowning-place of the Scottish 

kings. The old coronation stone was re¬ 
moved by Edward I. It is how under the 
coronation chair at Westminster. 

12. January 1051. 



/ 




73 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


CROMWELL AND THE YOUNGER CHARLES. 

<r FHE Crowning Mercy.’—When Charles had crossed 
1 the border at Carlisle, a herald proclaimed him 
King of England. The Royalists did not join him as he 
had expected, kept back perhaps by dislike of his Pres¬ 
byterian army. His advance was almost unopposed ; but 
the country was closely watched by detachments of the 
troops of the Commonwealth, and a small reinforcement 
which was marching to join him from the Isle of Man, 
under the Earl of Derby, was cut to pieces near Wigan. 

When Cromwell heard of this movement, he set out in 
pursuit, leaving the affairs of Scotland in the hands of 
General Monk. Before going he wrote an encouraging 
letter to Parliament, telling them not to be alarmed, but 
to do their utmost to check the advance of the invaders 
until he was able to reach up to them. He added these 
significant words, ‘ This will he a hopeful end of your 
work / 

Cromwell, with the main body of his troops, came up^ 
with the Royalists at Worcester , where Charles had 
strongly entrenched himself. The city was attacked on 
both sides; and, after a desperate contest of four or five 
hours’ duration, the Scots, with the exception of a few 
of their cavalry, were all either killed or taken prisoners. 

Cromwell might well exult in such a victory. It was 
indeed the 1 crowning mercy of the war.’ Ireland was 
subdued, Monk had firm hold of Scotland, and now the 
last force of the enemy in England was completely 
crushed. A battle which he himself said was as stiff 
a contest as ever he had seen, had ended in the ‘total 
defeat and ruin of the enemy’s army/ 



CROMWELL AND THE YOUNGER CHARLES. 79 

The Fugitive King.—The adventures of Charles, after 
Worcester, read like a page from some old romance. 
A price was laid upon his head as 1 Charles Stuart, 
son of the late tyrant/ For six weeks he sought in 
vain for an opportunity of escaping from the country, 


Charles’s escape from Worcester 

wandering through the west and south of England like 
one of Spenser’s 1 errant knights— 

“ High over hills and over dales he fled, 

As if the winds him on their wings had borne; 

He 2 bank nor hush could stay him, when he sped 3 
His nimble feet as treading still on thorn.” 4 
















8o 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


For a time he was guarded by the fidelity of a family 
of woodcutters called Penderell, who lived near Bos- 
cobel 5 woods. With cropped hair and dress like that of 
his peasant protectors, the fugitive accompanied them 
to their daily toil. The pursuers were close on his 
track, and dangers thickened round him. At one time 
we find him lying under a tree covered with a single 
blanket, while the rain poured in such torrents that his 
enemies did not care to continue their search. At 
another we may hide with the hunted king in that 
giant oak— 

“ Wherein the younger Charles abode 
Till all the paths were dim; 

* And far below the Roundhead rode, 

And humm’d a surly hymn.” 6 

W r e can trace the flight of Charles from Worcester to 
Shropshire and Staffordshire, and thence towards Wales. 
We next find him, once more hurried on like a storm- 
driven ship among the breakers, vainly endeavouring to 
escape from Bristol, and then almost driven to despair 
by the close watch kept up on the coast of Dorset. His 
last hiding place was in Wiltshire, and his weary flight 
came to an end when he sailed from Shoreham 7 on the 
15 th of October—forty-two days after his defeat at 
Worcester. 

The ship was only a collier, 8 and the captain had been 
told that his passenger was to be a merchant, but he 
recognised the king. 

“ Gentlemen! ” he said, “ you have not dealt fairly 
with me; for he is the king; I know him very well; 
and by the grace of God, I will venture my life and all 
for him.” Well did the noble skipper keep his word, 


CROMWELL AND THE YOUNGER CHARLES. 


81 


for the next day he set the exile safely on the shores of 
France, at the little port of Fdcamp in Normandy. 

The most touching thing about this flight, as in that 
of Prince Charles Edward nearly a century later, is the 
fidelity and generous kindness of humble peasants and 
rough sailors to a fallen and hopeless man. Such acts 
are the golden grains in the sands of history; such 
hearts, ‘ the noblest work of God.’ 

There were still in the hands of the Parliament the 
two children whom we last saw parting from their father 
on the day before his death. The Princess Elizabeth 
was confined in Carisbrooke. Like a flower shut out 
from light and air, she gradually drooped in her capti¬ 
vity. The sad scenes of the past had crushed the life 
from her young heart; and at last, rather ceasing to 
live than actually dying, she quietly fell asleep. She 
was found dead—a tear trembling on the pale cheek 
which rested on her Bible, and a sweet expression of 
celestial calm already effacing the traces of her past 
sorrow and care. 

The Parliament, ashamed of this melancholy ending 
to a young and beautiful life, and dreading lest another 
such stain should rest upon their fame, shortly after¬ 
wards sent off the young Henry of Gloucester to the 
care of his mother in France. 


1. Fairy Queen. 

2. Ne, neither. 

3. Sped, here transitive, signifying to move 

quickly. 

4. always on thorns. 


5. Boscobel, about 20 miles west of Shrews¬ 
bury. 

.6. From Tennyson’s “ Talking Oak." 

7. Shoreham, near Brighton, in Sussex. 

8. Collier, a coal-vessel. 




82 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


CROMWELL AND THE COMMONWEALTH. 


H OW the Commonwealth fared abroad. — The 
Commonwealth had now overcome its chief diffi¬ 
culties at home , but it was still threatened by serious 
perils abroad. The death of Charles had awakened the 
deepest horror and indignation throughout the courts 
of Europe ; and, although kings and statesmen were 
withheld by policy from active interference, the peoples 
proclaimed aloud their abhorrence of the act. 

Their jealousy of each other alone prevented France 
and Spain from declaring war against England. The 
former country withdrew its ambassador; 1 and while 
the populace clamoured for a war in support of the 
exiled royal family, 2 the French ministry 3 expressed 
the greatest sympathy with the younger Charles. In 
Spain, when the English envoy Asham was assassinated 
at Madrid, the criminals were allowed to escape and 
public feeling was on the side of the murderers. 
One European monarch went even further. Alexis of 
Russia , the father of Peter the Great, refused to have 
any dealings with the blood-stained oligarchy, and drove 
all English merchants out of his empire. 

These, and all such attacks, the government of 
England treated with cold indifference. Having full 
confidence in their strength, they waited with calm pride 
until success at home and abroad would compel the 
haughtiest of their enemies to be wary in provoking 
their wrath. 

The action of Holland , however, touched the rulers 
of England more deeply than that of the other nations. 
The leaders of the Commonwealth had looked to that 


CROMWELL AND THE COMMONWEALTH. 


83 


country for support, for the form of government there 
was Republican. In spite of this, the Dutch recognised 
Charles II., and gave a warm welcome to all Royalist 
refugees; the representative of the Parliament at the 
Hague 4 was murdered with impunity by some exiled 
cavaliers, and the envoys of England were ill-treated by 
the populace. 5 

This was not all; for Prince Rupert was allowed to 
make the ports of Holland the arsenals from which to 
wage a freebooting warfare against the Commonwealth. 6 
Privateers from all the maritime countries of Europe 
joined the prince to share in the plunder. 

The English government, acted with decision and 
promptitude, as well as with wisdom and caution. 
Without declaring war against their unfriendly neigh¬ 
bours, they fitted out a strong fleet, and placed it 
under the command of a notable seaman, Robert Blake. 
This famous admiral soon cleared the seas of the pira¬ 
tical marauders, drove Rupert from Holland to Portugal, 
forced that power to expel the fugitive from the Tagus, 
and pursued him to the coast of Africa. 

The Commonwealth made one final effort to win 
over Holland to a union. The proposals were refused, 
and their envoys 7 were insulted. Then it was that St. 
John, the ‘ dark-lantern man/ formed a plan for punishing 
the hostile Dutch ; and departed from the Hague, saying, 
‘ Believe me, you will repent having refused our offers.’ 

His vow was well kept, for almost immediately 8 
there was passed by Parliament a Navigation Act 9 
which struck a deadly blow at Dutch trade. At this 
time great part of the wealth of Holland was derived 
from carrying in its ships goods from one country tp 
another. This Act declared that no merchandise could 


8 4 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


be brought to British dominions from any country in 
Europe, except in British ships or in those belonging to 
the nation producing the goods ; and that no goods could 
be imported from Asia, Africa, or America, except in 
vessels belonging to British subjects and having their 
captains and the majority of their crews English. 

Thus, while Cromwell was busy in Ireland and 
Scotland, the Commonwealth had, upon the seas, 
made its power feared by its foes and respected by its 
rivals. 

Cromwell urges a Settlement of the Govern¬ 
ment. — It had been all along understood that the 
existing form of government was only temporary. On 
the one hand, the Bump Parliament 10 had no right to 
act in the name of the nation ; and, on the other hand, 
the army leaders could not seize the power without caus¬ 
ing deep discontent. If Boyalist plots were, however, to 
be held in check, it was absolutely necessary that some 
strong government should be appointed, which all should 
recognise as responsible for order. 

Accordingly, not long after the battle of Worcester, 
Cromwell declared that he now held it necessary to come 
to a settlement of the nation . n 

The Bump was very reluctant to resign its dignities. 
But it contained few men of ability; and having no 
means to withstand the popular general, was forced to 
pass a Bill 12 for its own dissolution—on condition, how¬ 
ever, that it should not take place for three years. 

The Dutch War. —Holland, as has been said, had 
openly favoured Charles II.; but the actual cause of war 
was the Act described above, forbidding the use of Dutch 
vessels in the transport of English goods. 

Blake, the admiral of England, began the contest by 


CROMWELL AND THE COMMONWEALTH. 85 

inflicting a serious defeat on Tromp at Dover , and this 
was followed np by several other victories; but the 
Dutch, put on their mettle by these disasters, appeared 
off the Naze with eighty ships under Tromp, against the 
forty which Blake had been able to muster. After a 
stubborn battle, Blake had to take refuge in the Thames. 
Tromp did not attempt to follow him ; but sailed down 
the Channel with a broom at his masthead, boasting 
that he had swept the English ships from the seas. 13 

In a few months Blake, with a much larger force, 
again put to sea; and after severely defeating Tromp 
off Portland , pursued him to the French coast. 

The last and most decisive battle took place on the 
Dutch coast off the Texel. u The most stubborn valour 
was displayed on both sides; but, at last, the brave 
Tromp Was killed, and the Dutch defeated with immense 
loss. 

The war ended in 1654. The Dutch recognised the 
English flag as supreme, submitted to the Navigation 
Act, promised to compensate for injuries done during 
the war and no longer to shelter the foes of the Com¬ 
monwealth. 

Fall of the Oligarchy.—Their brilliant naval success 
inspired the Rump with sufficient confidence to defy the 
wishes of the army. They declared that they would not 
only retain their seats in the new Parliament, but should 
decide the validity of every new election. 

Cromwell, on hearing this, was deeply incensed. He 
saw clearly what he thought to be his duty, and nothing 
could keep him from doiiig it. Giving orders that a 
company of musketeers of his own regiment should be 
sent to the door of the House of Commons, he entered 
and sat down in his usual place. 


86 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


He listened patiently to tlie debate until the Bill was 
about to pass; and then began to speak. While giving 
credit to the Parliament for their former care of the 
public good,” he sternly blamed them for their selfish 



ambition, and the scandalous lives of many of them ; and 
finally exclaimed, “ It is not fit you should sit here any 
longer; you shall give place to better men.” 












CROMWELL AND THE COMMONWEALTH. 87 

Addressing one of his officers, he said, “ Call them 
in, upon which thirty musketeers made their appearance 
in the midst of the astonished members. “It is you 
that have moved me to this,” he cried in sorrowful 
tones, as the members moved sullenly to the door. 
“ What shall we do with this bauble ? ” he added con¬ 
temptuously, taking up the mace. “ Here, take it 
away,” he said, handing it to a musketeer. 

Carrying with him the Bill which the Parliament 
had been about to make law, Cromwell gave orders 
to lock the door of the House . 10 This dismissal of 
the Bump seemed to meet with general approval, for 
it had completely lost the confidence of the nation, and 
its scheme to preserve a further lease of power had 
awakened general alarm. 

Cromwell, by thus taking the law into his own hands, 
was really acting in defence of the liberties of the 
Commons. 


1. Withdrew its ambassador. This is the usual 

preliminary to a declaration of war. 

2. Exiled Royal Family. Henrietta Maria, the 

queen of Charles I., had been a French 
princess (see page 22), and had taken re¬ 
fuge in France. 

3. French Ministry. This was the time of 

Cardinal Mazarin, who had succeeded the 
great Richelieu. He maintained a strict 
neutrality between the exiled king and the 
Commonwealth. 

4. The Hague, on the coast of Holland, the seat 

of government and political capital of the 
country. 

5. One reason of the favour shown by Holland 

to the Koyalists was that Mary, daughter 
of Charles I., had been married to William, 
Prince of Orange. Their son became 
William III. of England. 

6. The laws of naval warfare were not yet 

clearly fixed, and many of the acts even of 
our own famous admirals would now be 
regarded as piracy. 


7. Envoy, a special messenger , one sent to trans¬ 

act business with a foreign government. 

8. The envoys quitted the Hague on the 1st of 

July 1651, and the Navigation Bill was 
introduced in Parliament on the 5th of 
August. 

9. Navigation Act. Several similar Acts were 

afterwards passed. The first relaxation 
was in favour of the United States, and 
most of the restrictions were repealed in 
1849. Foreign ships were even admitted 
to the coasting trade in 1854. 

10. The Rump Parliament. See page 59. 

11. See Hallam’s Constitutional History, vol. ii. 

p. 94. 

12. Passed on the 18th of November 1651. 

13. These battles were fought in 1652, 

14. Texel, the large island nearest the mainland 

at the mouth of the Zuyder Zee. The battle 
was fought in July 1653. 

15. The Rump was expelled on the 20th April 

1653. 




88 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 



CROMWELL. 


CROMWELL, LORD PROTECTOR. 

1653-1658. 

HE Lord-General.—Crom¬ 
well had at last seized the 
helm of the State. Many 
different views have been 
taken of the character of 
this great man, some of 
them very hostile. His 
opponents regarded him as 
a conscious hypocrite hid¬ 
ing under the cloak of re¬ 
ligion ambition of the most 
selfish kind, as the main 
cause of the execution of 
King Charles, and as guilty of all the bloodshed of the 
past reign. This view was altogether unjust. Whatever 
may be thought of the means he took to carry out 
his aims, there can be no doubt that he was animated 
by intense religious conviction like that of the prophets 
of old, and felt himself appointed by God to rescue 
his country from slavery on the one hand and from 
miserable anarchy on the other. 

This man had ever been of independent spirit. He 
had always thrust himself between the oppressor and 
the oppressed, so that in his native Huntingdon he 
had long before this been known as the £ Lord of the 
Fens/ The days of his earlier manhood had been 
spent in much communing with his cousin Hampden; 1 
and during the bitter rule of ‘ Thorough/ they had 
determined to seek a freer home across the broad 





CROMWELL, LORD PROTECTOR. $9 

Atlantic. 2 God ordered their fates differently; for 
the vessel in which they were to sail was stopped by a 
proclamation of the king, and they remained—the one 
to die fighting for freedom on the battlefield, 3 the other 
to become the uncrowned king of a great empire. 

Cromwell’s First Parliament.—Cromwell had no 
wish to rule alone, and at once summoned one hundred 
and forty persons, chosen for their fidelity and honour, 
to administer the affairs of the kingdom. This con- 
vention, known as the Little or Barebones Parliament, 4 
was not at all successful. 

At first, it set itself with great energy to the work of 
reform ; but, the extreme party gaining the chief power, 
it soon began the destruction of the whole system of 
English law and church government. Indeed, the schemes 
of the majority so alarmed the more cautious members, 
that they hurriedly passed a vote delivering up their 
powers to the Lord-General. 3 

Thus the affairs of the kingdom were again placed 
under the control of Cromwell and the council of officers. 
They at once drew up an Instrument of Government, 
vesting the poiuer in a Lord Protector , a Council of State 
nominated by him , and a Parliament elected by the people . 

The Lord Protector chosen was of course the Lord- 
General Cromwell. He was to possess supreme execu¬ 
tive power; but Parliament alone had a right to impose 
taxes, and could frame laws without his sanction. It 
was also provided that the Parliament should meet every 
three years, that it could not be dissolved on any pretext 
until it had sat at least five months, and that Scotland 
and Ireland were to be represented as well as England. 6 
This was a sincere and noble attempt to restore consti¬ 
tutional liberty ; but the Puritan party was so small that 

a 


9 o 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


it could not remain in power if the votes of the nation 
were to decide the question. Thus the Instrument of 
Government necessarily failed. As soon as the Parlia¬ 
ment met, 7 a dispute regarding its powers commenced; 
and Cromwell, after allowing it to sit for five months, 8 
was forced reluctantly to dissolve it. 

A Military Despotism Established. —Anarchy now 
threatened the country, and military despotism of the 
strictest kind was accordingly established. England 
was divided into ten military districts, each of which was 
placed under a major-general responsible to the Protector ; 
and, in lieu of taxes imposed by Parliament, a rate was 
levied on all who had borne arms for the king. 

The lofty motives which actuated Cromwell were seen 
in the character of his administration. Never before 
had the essentials of liberty in England been so fully 
enjoyed. Toleration was permitted to all forms of 
Christianity, and the Church of England was declared 
to include all who held the principles of the faith. 

Cromwell was, however, very severe on many old cus¬ 
toms and habits. No inns except those necessary for 
travellers were permitted, while drunkenness and profane 
swearing were made capital offences. The bears kept 
for the amusement of the London citizens were slain 
by a Puritan colonel and his regiment. 

Not only were those sports which implied a certain 
degree of cruelty forbidden, but equally with them were 
horse-racing, theatrical entertainments, farces, and even 
all kinds of music not solemn and sacred. The May- 
poles were removed from the village greens, and games 
and dances were discouraged as dangerous to good morals. 

Cromwell and Europe. —In defence of the religious 
liberty of English merchants and sailors, Cromwell pro- 


CROMWELL, LORD TROTECTOR. 


91 


claimed war against Spain. 9 The command of the fleet 
was entrusted to the illustrious Blake. 

The greatest feat of the war was the work of the 
gallant admiral himself. By an act of daring almost un¬ 
exampled in the annals of naval warfare, he captured a 
fleet of Spanish ships in the bay of Santa Cruz 10 under 
the muzzles of the guns of several powerfully armed forts. 
“ The whole action was so incredible that all men who 
knew the place wondered that any sober man, with what 
courage soever endowed, would ever have undertaken it; 
and they would hardly persuade themselves to believe 
what they had done; while the Spaniards comforted 
themselves with the belief that they were devils and 
not men who had destroyed them in such a manner.” 11 

England now once more occupied the proud position 
she had held in the days of the Great Elizabeth, for 
Cromwell had made peace with Holland and become 
the recognised champion of the Protestant cause. France 
sought the powerful assistance of the Puritan soldier, 
and concluded an alliance with him against Spain. 

Six thousand of Cromwell’s veterans were sent to 
co-operate with twenty-six thousand French soldiers in 
overthrowing the Spanish power in the Netherlands. 
The ardour of the English for battle excited the wonder 
of the French ; and, as the result of the campaign, Dun¬ 
kirk 12 was delivered over to England. 

There were several other naval expeditions in which 
Cromwell upheld the honour of the English flag. The 
Duke of Tuscany had allowed Rupert to sell at Leghorn 
some English vessels which he had taken. Blake sailed 
thither with his fleet, and forced the Duke to pay 
A6o,000 indemnity. English commerce had also suf¬ 
fered much from the pirates of Algiers, Tunis, and 


92 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


Tripoli. The thunder of British guns forced these 
maurauders to afford ample satisfaction and to give 
guarantees for their future good conduct. 

It is due to Cromwell that England acquired that 
foreign prestige which she maintains to the present day. 

Renewed Attempt at Parliamentary Govern¬ 
ment. —Cromwell now saw that the only chance of suc¬ 
cess was by establishing a government as nearly as pos¬ 
sible resembling that of King, Lords, and Commons. 

Accordingly, he formed a new House of Lords; and 
the Commons begged him to assume the royal title. 
The army, however, petitioned against the proposal “in 
the name of the old cause for which they had bled,” and 
Cromwell felt that an undertaking could not prosper 
“ which would justly and with cause grieve them.” 

Although he did not accept the title of King, he 
enjoyed all the honours of royalty. He was to fill the 
office of Protector for life, and to appoint his successor. 
The solemn inauguration of the Protector took place 
in Westminster Hall. The Speaker assisted him to put 
on a robe of state, purple lined with ermine, presented 
him with a Bible richly gilt and bound, girded him with a 
sword, and placed in his hands a sceptre of massive gold. 
Then the people gave several great shouts, “ the trum¬ 
pets sounded, and the Protector sat in his chair of state, 
holding the sceptre in his hand.” 

All ended in failure. When the members excluded 
during the previous session were re-admitted, the House 
of Commons refused to acknowledge the new House of 
Lords ; and it was rumoured that they intended to ques¬ 
tion the authority of the Protector himself. Hearing of 
this, Cromwell summoned the Commons to the House 
of Lords, and in a speech of calm rebuke, commanded 


CROMWELL, LORD PROTECTOR. 


93 


them to dissolve—adding, u Let God be judge betwixt 
you and me.” He undoubtedly spoke from the heart 
when he said, u I would have been glad to have lived 
under my woodside, to have kept a Hock of sheep, than 
to have undertaken such a government.” 13 

Death of Cromwell.—It is in his untiring efforts 
to establish a constitution that the incorruptible honesty 
of Cromwell, his sincere humility, and his dauntless 
resolution are most strikingly shown. He was one of 
those men whose character is superior to all the ups and 
downs of fortune, who remain the same in heart and 
purpose whether they be rewarded with obloquy 14 or 
honour, with failure or success. 


“ His grandeur lie derived from heaven alone, 

For he was great ere fortune made him so; 

And wars, like mists that rise against the sun, 

Made him but greater seem , not greater grow.” 

The cares and perplexities of the last twenty years 
had completely undermined Cromwell’s strength, and 
the loss of a favourite daughter gave a shock to his 
system which brought on a mortal illness; and in his 
59th year, on the anniversary of Dunbar and Worcester, 
the great Protector quietly breathed his last. 15 


1 . His Cousin Hampden. See p. 29. The 

father of Oliver Cromwell and the mother 
of John Hampden were brother and sister. 

5. This is said to have taken place about the 
year 1637-38. 

3. Hampden was killed in the battle of Chal- 

grove Field. See p. 42. 

4. B&rebones Parliament met in 1653. So 

called from the name of one of its promi¬ 
nent members—a leather-merchant called 
Praise-God Barebone or Barebones. 

5. This took place on the 16tli of December 1663. 

6 . In this, the Instrument of Government anti¬ 

cipated the Acts of Union between the 
Parliaments of Scotland (1707) and Ireland 
(1800) with that of England. 

7. Cromwell's Second Parliament met on Sep¬ 

tember 3rd, 1654; it was dissolved on 
January 22nd. 1055. 


8 . Five Months, i.e., in accordance with the 

Instrument of Government. Cromwell 
declared that the ‘ five months ’ meant 
•five lunar months' of four weeks each. 

9. War was proclaimed against Spain in 1656. 

Hostilities had commenced and Jamaica 
been captured in 1655. 

10. Santa Cruz, in the island of Teneriffe, one of 

the Canary Islands. 

11. From Clarendon's ‘ History of the Great 

Rebellion.' 

12. Dunkirk, captured in 1658. It was after¬ 

wards sold to France by Charles II. 

13. Cromwell's last parliament was dissolved on 

February 4th, 1658. 

14. Obloquy, a speaking against any one, cal¬ 

umny. 

15. Cromwell died on September 3rd, 1658. 



94 


THE HOUSE OF STUAKT. 


THE RESTORATION OF THE STUARTS. 



R ICHARD CROMWELL.— To an inquiry made on 
his deathbed, Cromwell stated that, a year before, 
he had, at Hampton Court, drawn up a paper naming 

his successor. This paper 
was never found, but he 
was said to have mentioned 
his eldest son Richard. 1 
The Council supported the 
son of their great leader, 
and he was at once pro¬ 
claimed Protector. His 
accession was received 
peaceably by the nation, 
for the awe of his father’s 
name still remained, the 
kichard cromwell. Royalists were unprepared 

for action, and all opposition was hopeless so long as 
the army supported the new ruler. 

Richard, however, had no sympathy with Puritan 
feeling; he had taken no earnest part in political life, 
and he was not even an officer in the army upon whose 
fidelity his whole power rested. Accordingly, in dis¬ 
regard of the bitter failure of his father, he issued writs 
for a freely elected Parliament. When it met, not more 
than half the members assembled to hear the speech 
from the throne; 2 and though at last they agreed by 
a majority to recognise Richard as Protector, they 
claimed the sole right of appointing officers in the 
army. 

The army, Richard had already mortally offended. 






THE RESTORATION OF THE STUARTS. 


95 


Civilian though he was, he had taken for granted that 
in becoming Lord Protector he had become Lord- 
General. But the army was determined that no one 
but a soldier should be their leader, and that they 
should be controlled neither by Protector nor Parlia¬ 
ment. 

Richard, thereupon, ordered the council of officers to 
dissolve, upon which they told him that he must choose 
between them and the Commons. The Protector, thus 
forced by the army, dismissed the Parliament, and shortly 
afterwards quietly retired into private life. 3 

Meanwhile, the expelled Rump 4 still clung to what 
they affirmed were their rights, and the army again 
placed them in power in the hope that they would 
consent to execute its wishes. The stubborn Parliament 
again attempted to resume authority over the officers, 
but was for a time prevented by force from meeting; and, 
though again restored when the army was in need of 
money, was once more dissolved by General Monk 5 on 
his return with the army from Scotland. 6 

A free Parliament was then summoned ; and, when it 
met on the 26th of April, it was found to contain a 
great majority of members friendly to the royal family, 
though most of them were Presbyterians. Monk then 
declared for the recall of Charles II., and the army was 
so divided by the ambition of its various leaders that it 
made no attempt to oppose his resolution. Charles, 
thereupon, issued from Breda 7 a declaration in which 
he offered a general pardon and religious toleration. The 
Parliament at once agreed to his return; and, on his 
thirtieth birthday, May 29th, 1660, Charles made a 
triumphal entry into London. 

Character of the King.—Charles exercised a strong 


9 6 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES II. 


personal fascination over all with whom he came into 
contact for the first time. “ He had,” says Bishop 
Burnet , 5 “ the art of making all people fond of him at 
first, by a softness in his whole way of conversation, as 
he was certainly the best bred man of his age.” On 
account of his pleasant easy manners, he always succeeded 
in retaining his popularity among the mass of the people, 
notwithstanding the disasters which his shameless love 
of pleasure brought upon the nation. 

He infinitely surpassed his father in knowledge of 
the world and practical sagacity, and was quite ready to 
alter his purposes as expediency required. He hated 
the details of government, had no exalted notion of 
his royal duties, and the glory and greatness of England 
were of much less importance to him than his own 
comfort and convenience. “ Whatever else may happen,” 
he said, “ I have no wish to set out on my travels again ; ” 
but he was resolved to let slip no opportunity of regaining 
to the Crown its old power. 

General Joy at the Restoration.—The King was 
welcomed to the throne of his ancestors amid the cheers 
of the whole city. The army which Charles reviewed 
at Blackheath on his way to London received indeed 
his bows and smiles in sullen silence, although in their 
address they declared their readiness to shed their blood 
in his defence. But amongst all classes of civilians the 
rejoicing was so manifest as quite to justify the declara¬ 
tion of the Commons that he was “ The King of Hearts.” 
“ It is my own fault,” said Charles with good-humoured 
cynicism , 9 “ that I had not come back sooner, for I find 
nobody who does not long for my return.” 

It is not difficult to discover reasons for this universal 
joy. A government by King, Lords, and Commons, 


THE RESTORATION OF THE STUARTS. 97 

was that which every one, with the exception of the 
u Levellers,” would all along have preferred; and, to 



THE RESTORATION—THE TABLES TURNED. 


the nation wearied with its long struggle, Charles was 

now almost the one remaining hope, 
w 


o 




























9 8 


THE HOUSE OE STUART—CHARLES II. 


Apart from this, various other things helped to 
attach the people to him. Many of those who wit¬ 
nessed his triumphal entry, had been the sympathising 
spectators of his father’s execution , 10 and the remembrance 
of that pitiful fate doubtless added to the enthusiasm 
with which Charles II. was welcomed to “ his own 
again.” Moreover the early adventures of the young 
king, his campaign against Cromwell, his hair-breadth 
escapes, his life with the peasantry when in hiding from 
his pursuers, and his long exile, conferred on him a 
special and romantic interest . 11 

The question naturally arises whether it was wise to 
recall the royal family without exacting guarantees for 
the security of liberty. A generation had not elapsed 
before it became necessary to dethrone the brother of 
this same Charles , 12 and to make that clear Declara¬ 
tion of the Eights of the people which was omitted 
now. 

But the great danger at this time threatening the 
nation was the rule of a succession of petty despots set 
up and pulled down by the caprice of an all-powerful 
army. While that army was united, even the most 
hopeful might well despair for the ►liberty of England. 
It fortunately happened that, after the fall of Richard 
Cromwell, the soldiery were split up into factions; 
and, had our ancestors lost this golden opportunity, 
they might have long lamented their folly under a 
tyranny worse than that of the worst of the Stuart 
dynasty . 13 


1. Cromwell’s younger son Henry was a much 

abler man than Richard. 

2. Speech from the Throne. Each session of 

Parliament begins with a speech from the 
sovereign to the Houses of Parliament. 
The Protector had all the powers and 
honours of a king. 


3. The Parliament was dissolved on April 22, 

1659. 

4. The Rump. See pp. 59, 84. 

5. General Monk had been left by Cromwell 

in Scotland, while he himself pursued 
Charles II. to Worcester. 

6. Monk first demanded that all the Preaby- 



THE CLARENDON MINISTRY. 


99 


terian members who had been expelled 
(see page 59) should be restored. He then 
insisted that all vacancies should be 
filled up and the Parliament dissolve 
itself. This forms the constitutional end 
of the Long Parliament, after a nominal 
existence of nearly twenty years. (See 
page 32.) 

?. Breda. A fortified town in Holland near the 
Belgian frontier, twenty-eight miles north 
of Antwerp. Charles was living there at 
this time. The name occurs three times 
in connection with this king. (1) He made 
the Treaty oj Breda with the Scottish 


Covenanters in 1650; (2) He issued the 
Declaration of Breda in 1660 ; aud (3) He 
terminated a disgraceful Dutch war by 
the Peace of Breda in 1667. 

8. Bishop Burnet (1613-1715). His chief work 

is his ‘ History of My Own Times,’ extend¬ 
ing from the outbreak of the Civil War 
to 1713. 

9. Cynicism, literally, dog-like surliness. It 

here means distrust iu human nature. 

10. See p. 64. 

11. Seo pp. 78-81. 

12. James II. was dethroned in 1688-9. 

13. See Macaulay's History of England, vol. i. 


THE CLARENDON MINISTRY. 
1660 - 1667 . 



ROCEEDINGS of the 
Convention Parliament. 
This Parliament, carried 
away by the enthusiasm of 
the Restoration, lent itself 
to acts of vengeance 1 for 
the past. Those judges of 
the late king who had 
not surrendered themselves 
for trial, were executed, 
and the rest imprisoned for 
life. The bodies of Crom- 
charles ii. well, his son-in-law Ireton , 2 

and others, were exposed at Tyburn , 1 where they were 
beheaded and burnt under the gibbet. 

The Convention next applied itself to what has been the 
great problem of England’s history in modern times—the 
settlement of a sufficient revenue for the increased national 
wants and the establishment of a standing army for the 
defence of the realm, consistently with the preservation of 
liberty. The two first of these were now arranged, but 
the consideration of the last was postponed. 

a 








100 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES II. 


Charles received a fixed animal revenue of £ 1,200,000 
for life, 4 and in return he consented to the abolition of 
all the feudal rights of the Crown. This relieved the 
landholders from their heaviest burden; and it was now 
voted that the excise 5 duties upon beer and other liquors 
should be settled for ever upon the Crown. 6 

In the next place, a grant was made for the payment 
of the arrears due to the soldiery, and that formidable 
body was quietly discharged; and such was their self- 
restraint and discipline, that they settled down without 
disturbance. Two regiments—one of which, the Cold- 
streams, came from Scotland with Monk; and the other, 
brought from Dunkirk—were retained under the name 
of Guards, and formed the nucleus of a standing 
army. 

Religious Persecution.—During the first seven 
years of his reign, Charles was guided by one who had 
faithfully shared his exile. This was Edward Hyde, now 
made Lord Chancellor and created Earl of Clarendon. 7 
He had begun his parliamentary career as a reformer, 
but was now an extreme upholder of the royal preroga¬ 
tive and of the English Church. 

Accordingly, in the New Parliament, 8 religious perse¬ 
cution was soon begun. The Presbyterians and Inde¬ 
pendents were expelled from the Church of England ; 
the prayer-book was restored ; while, year by year, Acts 
were passed enforcing additional penalties on all who 
refused to conform to Episcopalian rites and to take an 
oath that it was unlawful in any circumstances to rebel 
against the king. 9 

On account of these Acts, more than 2000 clergy¬ 
men were deprived of their livings and forbidden to 
preach under the most severe penalties. 


THE CLARENDON MINISTRY. 


IOI 


Shortly after the accession of Charles, an Act was 
passed in Scotland renouncing the Covenant, and Argyle 
was condemned and executed. Similar Acts 10 to those 
in force in England against Dissenters were soon 
introduced and carried into effect with unsparing 
rigour. An attempt at an insurrection was speedily 
quelled by the defeat of the Covenanters at the Pent- 
lands j 11 when the vengeance taken upon them was so 
severe that the king himself thought fit to interpose. 
They, in their turn, defeated Graham of Claverhouse 12 
at Drumclog, 13 but were at last completely defeated at 
Bothwell Bridge, 14 upon the Clyde. Long after all 
resistance was over, they were butchered without mercy 
by the troops of Claverhouse, whose vengeance, even on 
those who had thrown down their arms, could with 
difficulty be restrained. This battle ended for a time 
the armed resistance of the Covenanters, but under the 
Duke of York, afterwards James II., the persecution 
became still more severe. 

Naval War with Holland.—While these events were 
taking place in Scotland, England had become en¬ 
tangled in foreign war. 

Charles had received many favours from Holland 
during his exile, but England was jealbus of the com¬ 
mercial enterprise of that country. The Parliament, 
therefore, passed repeated Navigation Acts against their 
rival. This soon led to a proclamation of war. 15 In 
the battles that followed, the naval fame won during the 
rule of Cromwell was almost completely lost. 

At the beginning, the Dutch sustained a serious 
defeat off Lowestoft; 16 but, after increasing the strength 
of their fleet, they again put out to sea. An encounter 
took place off the North Foreland 17 which lasted three 


102 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES II. 


days, and the English were compelled to retreat np the 
Thames after twenty of their ships had been sunk. A 
third battle at the mouth of the Thames was more dis¬ 
astrous to the Dutch than the previous one had been 
to the English; but, again taking the English by 
surprise, they appeared in the Thames, burned several 
men-of-war at Chatham, and for a time blockaded 



THE DUTCH FLEET IN THE THAMES. 


London. For weeks, they sailed along the coasts 
unmolested and then returned home, having inflicted 
on England the greatest national humiliation she had 
suffered since the Norman Conquest. 18 While England 
was smarting under this disgrace, Charles basely signed 
a treaty with Holland, 19 which left the two powers in 
much the same position as before the war began. 




THE CLARENDON MINISTRY. 


103 

The Great Plague of London and the Great Fire.— 

Meanwhile, London had sustained two almost overwhelm¬ 
ing disasters, which for a time seriously crippled the 
trade of the country. The plague had been the terror 
of the capital for more than three hundred years, and 
annually devoured a certain number of victims; but in 
December 1664, it broke suddenly out with a virulence 
unexampled since the terrible year of 1 349. 20 In 1665 
about 70,000 persons, 21 or nearly one-third of all tho 
inhabitants, died. Business was completely stopped, 
and the streets became green with grass. The houses 
which the plague had entered were marked with a 
red cross that the few passers-by might avoid them. 
Instead of the noise of traffic, almost the only sound 
heard day or night was the tolling of bells. After 
sunset, carts went their rounds through the streets—the 
drivers uttering the dismal cry, “ Bring out your 
dead! ” 

The pestilence had no sooner ceased its ravages than 
a fire broke out which laid nearly the whole city in 
ashes. About one o’clock on a September morning in 
166 5, flames were seen issuing from a baker’s shop in 
Fish Street. 22 The previous summer had been excep¬ 
tionally dry, and the wooden houses but fed the fury of 
the flames. Fanned by an east wind the fire spread with 
alarming rapidity from house to house, and continued 
raging for four days. When it was at last extinguished, 
the city was a heap of smoking ruins. About 13,000 
houses and 90 churches, including St. Paul’s Cathedral, 23 
were completely destroyed. 

It was groundlessly believed that the Catholics 
had wilfully caused the fire, and a most unjust state¬ 
ment to this effect was inscribed upon the column erected 


104 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES II. 


in London to commemorate tlie event. Dryden boldly 
rebuked the false charge :— 

“ Where London’s column, pointing to the skies, 

Like a tall bully, lifts its head, and lies .” 

Much good came out of this disaster. The fire had 
acted as a purifying agent, for by it the seeds of dis¬ 
ease were destroyed, and many hovels which had been 
mere dens of pestilence were burned down. Thus, as 
the houses were rebuilt of stone, and the new streets 
made wider, there has never been another great plague 
in London. 

Fall of Clarendon.—While the country was suffer¬ 
ing from the effects of the plague and fire, it gradually 
became known that the money raised for the war had 
not been employed to support the navy but had been 
wasted on officials and courtiers. The Commons de¬ 
manded an inquiry into the details of the expenditure, 
which was rejected by the Lord Chancellor Clarendon. 
Charles deserted his minister , 24 who, to escape the 
penalties of impeachment, had to take refuge in France. 

“ We must not let the respect we justly feel for 
Clarendon as a writer blind us to the faults which he 
committed as a statesman.” 25 His slavish subjection to 
the king led him to most serious crimes against the 
honour and liberty of England, although this certainly 
gave the profligate monarch no excuse for leaving him 
so ungratefully to his fate. 


L The Act naming those who were to be pun¬ 
ished, was mis-called an Act of Indemnity 
or Pardon. 

2. The corpses of Cromwell. Ireton, and Brad¬ 
shaw (see p. 65) were dragged from their 
tombs in Westminster Abbey. The bodies 
of Cromwell’s mother and daughter, of 
Pym. and of the illustrious Blake, were 


also thrust promiscuously into a hole in 
the adjoining graveyard. Blake is now 
buried in St. Margaret’s Church. 

3. Tyburn. Tyburn Hill, near Hyde Park, was 

for a long time the place of public execu¬ 
tion in London. 

4. See p. 23. The country has now returned 

to the plan taken with Charles I., of 



STRUGGLE BETWEEN CROWN AND 


PARLIAMENT. 


i°5 


granting the revenue from year to year. 
£1,200,000 then would be equivalent to 
over three millions now. 

5. Excise, a tax on home commodities. It is 

an ' in-land ' tax corresponding to the 
* out-land’ custom duties on imports and 
exports. 

6. By this act, the feudal system was abolished, 

and indirect was substituted for direct 
taxation. 

7. He was a prominent member of the Long 

Parliament, and joined the king's party 
after the publication of the Grand Remon¬ 
strance (see p. 35). 

S. New Parliament. It lasted from 16614679, 
having thus a much longer actual working 
existence than the Long Parliament had. 
After the first few years, many of its mem¬ 
bers received regular bribes both from the 
English ministers and the French king; 
it has thus become known as The Pension 
Parliament. 

9. Dissenters, i.e., those who differ from and 
do not conform to the Established Church. 
It was at this time that the word came 
first into use. 

10. The Acts against Dissenters are known as 
‘The Clarendon Code.’ They are as fol¬ 
low* :— 

(1) The Corporation Act (1661), requiring all 
members of corporations to renounce the 
Solemn League and Covenant, and take 
the sacrament according to the rites of 
the Church of England ; 

(2) The Act of Uniformity (1662), providing that 
every minister should publicly declare his 
assent to everything contained in the 
Book of Common Prayer, or be deprived 
of his benefice. Two thousand clergymen 
.were turned adrift; 

(3.) The Conventicle Act (1664), meant to 
prevent the deprived clergymen from 
forming congregations, and enacting that 


any person present at a religious meeting 
not held according to the Established 
Church should be imprisoned, and for a 
third offence transported for seven years ; 
(4.) The Five Mile Act (1665) forbidding the dis. 
scnting clergymen from coming within five 
miles of any corporate town or place where 
they had been ministers except when 
travelling. 

11. Pentl&nds, a range of hills a few miles south¬ 

west of Edinburgh. The scene of the battle 
is called Bullion's Green. 

12. Graham of Claverhouse, afterwards made 

Viscount Dundee. 

13'. Drumclog, a farm-house, about 12 miles 
south-west of Glasgow. 

14. Bothwell Bridge, over the Clyde, between 

Hamilton and Glasgow. The battle was 
fought on the 22nd of June 1679. 

15. 22ml February 1665. 

16. Lowestoft. This battle was fought in 1665. 

17. North Foreland, fought in 1666, sometimes 

described as the Battle in the Downs. 

18. All the disasters of this war were due to the 

extravagance of Charles II., who seized 
every opportunity of diverting the money 
voted for the fleet to his own pleasures. 

19. Called the Peace of Breda. See note 7, 

page 99. 

20. The year of the Black Plague in the time of 

Edward III. 

21. In the same proportion this would now mean 

a death in London of nearly 1,500,000 
people. 

22. Near London Bridge. 

23. That is, Old St. Paul’s. The new Cathedral 

Wits designed by Sir Christopher Wren. 

24. Clarendon’s love for the Constitution offended 

Charles, his pure life seemed a rebuke to 
the vicious courtiers, and his subserviency 
to the Crown alienated the people. Thus 
no one regretted his exile. 

25. Macaulay. 


THE RENEWAL OF THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN 
CROWN AND PARLIAMENT. 

T HE Ministry of the Cabal. 1 —The fall of Clarendon 
indicated that the Royalist reaction had spent its 
force. The great English Revolution of the seventeenth 
century— the transfer of the supreme control of the Exe¬ 
cutive Administration from the Crown to the House of 
Commons —was throughout this Long Parliament pro¬ 
ceeding rapidly and steadily. 





io6 THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES II. 

Charles, kept poor by his follies and vices, was con¬ 
tinually in want of money. This, the Commons alone 
could legally give him; and, as the price of their grant, 
they gradually assumed the power of breaking up 
cabinets 2 and of directing the course of foreign policy. 
Thus, while loudly and sincerely professing their attach¬ 
ment to the royal office and the royal person, they had 
fallen just as furiously upon Clarendon as the Long 
Parliament had fallen on Strafford. 3 While upholding 
the principle that the Icing can do no wrong* they were 
determined to hold ministers of the sovereign responsible 
for his acts. 

The ministry which succeeded was that known as the 
Cabal, a body of men of the most corrupt character; and 
under their administration the action of the English 
government was of the most unconstitutional and dis¬ 
graceful kind. Of this cabinet, the chief in influence 
with the king, but not in ability, 5 was the Duke of 
Buckingham—the equally dangerous son of that ill- 
omened' favourite who first led the House of Stuart on 
the perilous path which finally ended in its ruin. 

England, France, and Holland.—At this time, France 
was by far the most powerful state in Europe. 6 Its 
ambitious monarch, Louis XIY., was bent upon the con¬ 
quest of the Netherlands, and it was the undoubted policy 
of England to aid Holland in resisting his encroachments ; 
but Charles and his advisers—ever ready to barter the 
honour of England to secure the means for vicious 
pleasure—had sold Dunkirk 7 to the French king, and 
agreed to favour his design. It was only when popular 
indignation became too great to be withstood that Charles 
concluded a treaty known as the Triple Alliance , 8 by 
which England, Holland, and Sweden bound themselves 


STRUGGLE BETWEEN CROWN AND PARLIAMENT. 107 

to resist Louis. This league was welcomed by the people 
and called forth the enthusiasm of the Puritans, who 
declared that it was the only good thing which had been 
done since the king came to the throne. 

Louis pretended to yield; but at the same time he 
offered p'ivately to supply Charles with money and 
support him (if necessary) with an army in England, 
provided only that he would desert his allies. Charles, 
wishing to be free from the scrutiny of Parliament, 
accepted the dishonourable proposal. Accordingly, he 
signed the Secret Treaty of Dover —agreeing, on condition 
of receiving ^200,000 9 from the French king, to support 
him in seizing Holland. It was also stipulated in 
this base bargain, that after Louis’ continental conquests 
had been completed, Charles should, with the aid of a 
French army, establish an absolute monarchy in England. 

“ Had this treaty been publicly known, the history 
of the government of the Stuarts would doubtlessly 
have terminated with the year 1670. For that which 
James’s proceedings never even threatened was absolutely 
sacrificed by Charles—the national security as against 
France.” 10 

The profligate monarch continued through life to be 
the pensioner of Louis, and was ever ready to promote 
his schemes, if sufficiently bribed, and if the danger was 
not too great. He therefore entered upon a war with 
Holland. 11 A detachment of English troops, under the 
Duke of Monmouth, 12 assisted the French to overrun 
that country, and the Dutch were defeated by the 
English in several naval engagements, but the war was 
so unpopular that Charles was compelled to conclude 
a peace. 13 

The Danby Administration.—The Cabal broke up 


108 THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES II. 

in 1673, and, for six years, Charles was nominally under 
the guidance of the Earl of Danby. Though the actual 
nature of the agreement between Charles and Louis was 
of course unknown, their evident friendship awakened 
strong jealousy against the Catholics. The Duke of 
York also had publicly professed his conversion to 
Catholicism, and had married the Catholic princess, of 
Modena. So alarmed was the Parliament, that the Test 
Act 14 was passed, debarring from office all who refused 
to abjure the doctrine of transubstantiation. 15 On 
this account the Duke of York was compelled to 
resign his office of Lord High Admiral; and towards 
the end of the reign, a Bill 16 for excluding this prince 
from the throne formed a subject of bitter controversy 
between the Commons and the Crown. 

The public mind was, at this time, just in the mood to 
give ear to any story which seemed to confirm its fear and 
distrust of the Catholics. Titus Oates, a disgraced clergy¬ 
man of the Church of England, took advantage of this to 
excite universal alarm by a false account of a religious 
plot. 17 He affirmed that a scheme had been contrived 
to burn down London, to massacre the Protestants, and 
to assassinate the king, while a French army was at the 
same time to land in Ireland. 

The stupid fabrication happened to be strangely con¬ 
firmed by the murder of a justice of the peace 18 who 
had received the deposition 19 of Oates. This was all 
that was needed to rouse throughout the country a wild 
hatred against the Catholics. They were most cruelly 
dealt with ; the peers and gentlemen denounced by Oates 
were committed to the Tower, and the informer himself 
received a pension of £1200 a year. 

The panic excited by the inventions of Oates was in- 


STRUGGLE BETWEEN CROWN AND PARLIAMENT. 109 

creased by the discovery that Danby had been negotiating 
with Louis for a pension to the king of England. This 
statesman might be described as a weaker Clarendon. 
He had some regard for the honour of his country and 
the authority of Parliament, while his arrangement of the 
marriage between the Princess Mary and William of 
Orange 20 prove that he was at heart opposed to the am¬ 
bition of France. But ministers had not yet learned to 
separate their public duty from obedience to the personal 
wishes of the monarch ; and, like his predecessors, Danby 
had sold England’s aid to Louis that his extravagant 
master might have money to spend upon his pleasures. 
He urged that all had been done by command of the 
king, but the Commons rightly refused to listen to such a 
plea. Accordingly, Danby was impeached ; 21 and an Act 
(specially directed against the Duke of York) was intro¬ 
duced to exclude Catholics from succeeding to the throne. 

Rather than consent to the proposals of the Commons, 
Charles dissolved the Parliament; but, in order to in¬ 
fluence the electors, he assented to the passing of the 
Act known as the Habeas Corpus Act 22 and generally 
regarded as one of the principal bulwarks of the liberty 
of the person. By it, the arbitrary authority exercised 
by the judges and the crown in regard to imprisonment 
before trial was completely overthrown. 

The Ryehouse Plot.—Towards the end of the reign, 
several of the leading Whig noblemen entered into a 
plot to assassinate both Charles and the Duke of York 
and to raise the Duke of Monmouth to the throne. 
They were to have been attacked at Ryeliouse , a farm 
on the way from Newmarket to London. The secret, 
however, became known, and the leaders of the con¬ 
spiracy were executed. 


I IO 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—CHARLES II 


The disclosure of the plot caused a strong feeling 
in favour of the king, and he became almost as popular 
as at the Restoration. When he not long afterwards 
died of apoplexy , 23 the Duke of York was allowed to 
succeed without opposition. 


1. Cabal. The word Cabal had then much the 

same meaning as the word Cabinet. It 
meant a more trusted section of the Privy 
Council. From the accident that the 
initials of the hated ministers form the 
word, it came to mean a party secre ly 
plotting for an evil purpose. The names 
of the five ministers were, Clifford, Arling¬ 
ton, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauder¬ 
dale. 

2. Cabinets. Thus Clarendon in 1667, the Cabal 

in 1673, and Danby in 1679, all. fell before 
this one Parliament. 

3. See Macaulay’s History of England, vol. i. p. 

193. 

4. The king can do no wrong. This is a prin¬ 

ciple of modern constitutional monarchy. 
The responsibility rests with the ministers 
who advise the Crown. 

5. The most able member of the Cabal was 

Ashley, afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury. 
Of him Drydcn says that he was— 

“ For close designs and crooked counsels fit, 
Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit.” 

6. Spain had lost its high position, and such 

modern states as Prussia and Russia had 
then no great position in Europe. 

7. Dunkirk. The sale took place in 1662. 

8. Triple Alliance, signed 28th January, 1668. 


9. £200,000 would be equal to about £500,000 
now. 

10. This passage is from Lord Brougham’s British 

Constitution, chap. vii. p. 95. 

11. Declared in 1672. 

12. Duke of Monmouth, the natural son of 

Charles II. 

13. Peace between England and Holland on 

February 9th, 1674; France did not make 
peace with the brave republic till the 
peace of Nimeguen in 1678. 

14. Test Act. This Act remained in force from 

1673 to 1828- 

15?Doctrine of Transubstantiation is one of 

the cardinal doctrines of Catholicism. 

16. Known as the 'Exclusion Bill.’ It was 

passed by the Commons both in 1679 and 
1681. Both times it was rejected by the 
Lords. 

17. Falsely called the ‘ Popish Plot * (1678). 

18. Justice of the Peace. He was called Sir 

Bdinondburv Godfrey. 

19. Deposition, the statement made on oath by 

a witness. 

20. The marriage took place in 1678. 

21. 19th December 1678. 

22. Habeas Corpus Act, passed May 27th, 

1679. 

23. Charles II. died February 5th, 1685. 








































THE FALL OF THE STUARTS. 


in 


THE FALL OF THE STUARTS. 

1685-1688. 

CCESSION and Character 
of James II. 1 —Charles, on 
being told by his brother 
the Duke of York of a plot 
against his life, is said to 
have replied, “ No, no, 
James ; they will never kill 
me to make you king.” The 
fact that James was a Catho¬ 
lic was sufficient to destroy 
his popularity. He possessed 
neither the personal charm 
jamks n. nor the practical tact which 

had enabled Charles to retain the attachment of his sub¬ 
jects notwithstanding the dissatisfaction caused by his 
connection with Louis of France. James was generally 
believed to have the merit of sincerity and honesty. 
He had boldly declared his conversion to Catholicism, 
and now stated that “ although he meant to maintain 
the Church of England in her temporal dignity, he was 
unwilling to communicate with her in things spiritual.” 

His statement to the Privy Councillors, that he had 
no fondness for arbitrary power and that he was deter¬ 
mined to “ maintain the established government in 
Church and State,” produced at once a sense of inex¬ 
pressible relief. “We have now for our Church,” it was 
said, “ the word of a king, and of a king who was 
never worse than his word.” The Parliament, accord¬ 
ingly, manifested their loyalty by a grant of a revenue 





12 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—JAMES II. 


of two millions, and by the passing of a law that whoever 
should move to “ alter or change the descent of the 
crown should be adjudged guilty of high treason.” 

Monmouth’s Rebellion.—The hold which James 
possessed on public confidence was increased by the 
joint attempt at rebellion of Argyle in Scotland and 
Monmouth in England. These two noblemen had for 
some years been refugees in Holland. 

The former landed in the west of Scotland; 2 but, 
after a vain attempt to seize Glasgow, he was captured 3 
while attempting to escape, and was executed at Edin¬ 
burgh on June 30th, 1685. 

Monmouth appeared as the Protestant champion, and 
claimed to succeed to the throne on the ground that 
his mother, Lucy Walters, had been married to Charles 
at the Hague. He had intended to act simultaneously 
with Argyle, but was delayed by contrary winds, and did 
not land 4 until the Scottish rising had failed. 

The south-west of England was strongly Puritan; 
and so rapidly did the people flock to his standard, 
which had been set up in the market-place of Lyme, 
that the day after his landing his followers amounted to 
1500 foot and several horsemen. 5 He next marched to 
Taunton in Somerset, where, on his arrival, the doors 
and windows were wreathed with flowers, and a train of 
young girls presented him with a gorgeously embroidered 
flag and a richly bound Bible. 

Emboldened by his reception, he now proclaimed 
himself king. He had then 5000 infantry and 1000 
cavalry—mostly farmers, peasants, and miners, who had 
never before borne arms. Finding Bath and Bristol too 
strong for attack, he marched in a haphazard manner 
through Somersetshire , closely followed and harassed by 


THE FALL OF THE STUARTS. 


ii3 


Churchill. 6 Meantime, Feversham was coming to the 
assistance of the latter, with nearly 3000 men. 

The two armies came in sight of one another near 
Bridgewater. Monmouth resolved to trust to a sur¬ 
prise by night to snatch a victory which he had no 
hope of obtaining over the disciplined soldiers of the 
king in fair fight in open day. Though the moon 
was then at the full, the thick fog which gathered on 
the marsh concealed the advance of his troops. 

But for a deep ditch, 7 which, unknown to Mon¬ 
mouth, covered the front of the royal camp, his 
scheme might have been successful. This obstacle 
proved fatal to it. The accidental firing of some stray 
shots gave the alarm, and speedily the royal troops 
were drawn up facing the ditch in battle array. The 
cavalry of Monmouth were soon dispersed by the volleys 
of the guards; and, although his infantry for a time 
fought with a stubbornness worthy of veteran troops, 
he saw that his cause was lost, and fled from the field. 

Deserted by their leader and separated from their 
ammunition waggons, the insurgents still resolutely 
held their own; but soon the guards, making a detour, 8 
charged them on both flanks; the artillery poured its 
shot amongst them, the cavalry advanced to the charge, 
and the rout was complete. Monmouth, some days 
afterwards, was discovered in a ditch, disguised as a 
peasant. He was taken to London, and vainly implored 
James to pardon him. “ Your crime is too great,” said 
the inexorable monarch. Nine days after the defeat of 
Sedgemoor the hapless nobleman suffered execution on 
Tower Hill. 9 

Kirke’s Lambs, and the Bloody Assizes.—Thus 
ended the last battle fought on English soil. 10 After 

H 


(4; 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—JAMES II 


i H 



MONMOUTH AND JAMES. 













































































































































THE FALL OF THE STUARTS. 


"5 


the victory, the cavalry under Colonel Kirke searched 
all the villages round—putting the fugitives to a cruel 
death, and arresting all who had sheltered them. These 
troops bore a flag with the figure of a paschal lamb 11 
upon it; and the people of Cornwall long remembered 
with horror the atrocities of ‘ Kirkes lambs' 

This military massacre did not satisfy James, and it 
was followed by a commission 12 known ever afterwards 
as the 1 Bloody Assizes .’ Under Judge Jeffreys, already 
notorious for his unscrupulous disregard of justice and 
his delight in cruelty, it placed on trial every one 
suspected of treason. More than 300 persons were 
executed, 1000 were sold into slavery, and a largo 
number more were whipped and fined. The queen’s 
maids of honour had to be bribed with the sum of 
.£2000 to obtain the pardon of the £ maids of Taunton’ 
who had presented Monmouth with the banner. 

The trial which showed most clearly the brutality of 
Jeffreys and excited the greatest indignation, was the 
first of the crimson list. The vi'ctim was the aged Lady 
Alice Lisle, 13 who had lived long in retirement at Win¬ 
chester, but was now accused of harbouring two of the 
rebels. The jury were literally 1 bullied ’ into finding 
her guilty, and the exultant wretch who acted as her 
judge condemned the venerable lady to be burned alive. 
It was with the greatest difficulty that her friends per¬ 
suaded the king to change the sentence, and she was 
beheaded at Winchester five days after her trial. 

Such severity defeated its purpose, and helped' to 
deprive the king of the attachment of the nation. 

Unconstitutional Acts of the King. — James’s 
policy was directed to the attainment of two ends— 
the restoration of Catholicism, and the establishment of 


ii 6 THE HOUSE OF STUART—JAMES II. 

absolute power. To obtain these he required a new 
High Commission Court 14 to ensure ecclesiastical 
supremacy, a settled revenue, a standing army, and the 
repeal of the Habeas Corpus 15 and Test Acts. 16 He 
soon obtained the first of these, 17 Parliament had already 
granted him the second, it also allowed him to raise the 
army from ten to twenty thousand men, 18 but it stead¬ 
fastly refused to yield to him on the last point. 

To get over this obstacle to his plans, James claimed 
the double power of suspending and of dispensing with 
any law he chose. The former of these meant that he 
might determine that for a given time any particular 
statute should not be enforced ; the latter, that in the 
case of particular persons named by the king the law 
should be inoperative. Accordingly, notwithstanding 
the Test Act, he began to officer his troops with 
Catholics and to appoint them to the highest offices 
of state. He followed this up by demanding that a 
Declaration of Indulgence, 19 suspending the penal laws 
against Nonconformists and Catholics, should be read 
by every clergyman on two successive Sundays. 

Seven bishops 20 who petitioned against it were 
arrested. While the accused men were waiting for their 
trial, tumults took place all over the country, and the 
people of the west prepared to take up arms. The popu¬ 
lar spirit is well shown in a Cornish song, concerning 
Sir J. Trelawny, Bishop of Bristol, one of the seven— 

“ And shall Trelawny die, and shall Trelawny die 1 
Then twenty thousand Cornish boys will know the reason 
why.” 

The charge was c the writing or publishing in the 
county of Middlesex, of a false, malicious, and seditious 


THE FALL OF THE STUARTS. 


n 7 

libel/ Every point was closely contested—the 1 writing , 
the £ publicationj and whether these took place in the 
county of Middlesex , all occupied the court for hours. 
The accused were finally acquitted on the grand con¬ 
stitutional ground that the £ dispensing power claimed 
by the king was illegal; 9 and that the document com¬ 
plained of was no libel, but that £ evci'y subject has a 
right to petition his sovereign.” 

Even the soldiers whom James had placed on Houn¬ 
slow Heath to overawe the capital, shouted with joy 
when the news of 1 not guilty ’ reached the camp. 

James and William of Orange : Flight of the King. 
—This last act decided leading politicians of all parties 
to seek the assistance of William, Prince of Orange, 21 who 
had married Mary, the daughter of James. Had not a 
son about this time been bom to James, no decisive step 
might have been taken so speedily; for, with the death 
of James, Mary would have ascended the throne. But 
it was now evident that, if a Catholic restoration was 
to be prevented, it must be done without delay. 

It so happened that Louis of France was engaged in a 
war with Germany, and was therefore unable to help 
his faithful pensioner. When William landed at Torbay 
with 13,000 soldiers, he met with no resistance, for, 
owing to Churchill, the soldiers sent to check his 
advance deserted to him. Through the same in¬ 
fluence, Anne, the daughter of James, joined the in¬ 
surgents. ££ God help me,” said James, ££ for my own 
children have forsaken me.” When he learned that 
his wife and child had escaped to France, he proceeded 
down the Thames to the Isle of Sheppey to follow them. 
There he was intercepted and brought back to London; 
but on learning of the entry of the Dutch into the city, 



i iS THE HOUSE OF STUART—JAMES II. 

he went to Rochester. Thence, in the dead of night, 


l’HE LANDING OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE, 













THE FALL OF THE STUARTS. ng 

the fugitive king took a small boat down the Medway, 
and went on board a smack which conveyed him to 
France . 22 


1. James II. reigned from 1685 to 1688. 

2. lie landed, in May 1685, in the country of his 

own clan—the clan Campbell—at Camp¬ 
beltown, in Kintyre. 

3. lie was captured on June 17, 1685. 

4. Monmouth landed in Lyme, Dorset, on June 

11, only six days before Argyle’s capture. 

5. Monmouth landed with only eighty fol¬ 

lowers. 

6. Churchill, afterwards world-famous as the 

Duke of Marlborough. 

7. Called the Old Sussex Rhine or stream. 

8. Detour, a roundabout way. Instead of ad¬ 

vancing straight forward, they went a dis¬ 
tance round and fell upon the flanks of 
the enemy. 

9. The Battle of Sedgemoor was fought on July 

6, and Monmouth was executed on July 15. 

10. The battles of William and of the rebellions 

of 1715 and 1745 were fought in Scotland 
and Ireland —the last being Culloden in 
1746. 

11. A Paschal Lamb, i.e., a lamb ready for the 

sacrifice of the Passover. Kirke and his 
cavalry had been serving in Tangiers in 
Africa against the Mohammedans ; and it 
was there that they had got this symbol. 

12. Commission here means a body appointed to 

conduct the trials of the suspected persons. 

13. Lady Alice Lisle. The true reason of the 

savage hostility of the Crown to this lady 
was that her husband, John Lisle, had 


been one of the judges who had presided 
at the trial of Charles I. 

14. High Commission Court, for the trial of all 

ecclesiastical cases. See p. 34. 

15. Habeas Corpus Act. The repeal of this 

Act would have enabled the King to ar¬ 
rest and keep in prison without trial all 
those opposed to his policy. 

16. Test Act, see p. 108. This Act rendered it 

illegal for Roman Catholics to be officers 
in the army or hold any public office. 

17. The New High Commission Court was com¬ 

posed of six persons under the presidency 
of the notorious Judge Jeffreys. 

18. James was in receipt of a regular pension 

from Louis of France for the support of 
. his army. 

19. Declaration of Indulgence. There were two 

of these proclaimed by Janies—the first on 
April 4, 1687, and the second on April 27, 
1688. The 20th and 27th of May, 168^, were 
the days appointed for reading the De¬ 
claration. 

20. The chief of the seven was Saneroft, Arch¬ 

bishop of Canterbury. 

21. William of Orange, see note 5, p. 87. This 

Prince was son of the former William of 
Orange, and of Mary, daughter of Charles 
I. He had married his cousin Mary, 
daughter of James II. 

22. James’ flight took place on December 18, 

1688. 


THE FALL OF THE STUARTS— Continued. 


T HE Convention Parliament: The Declaration of 
Rights.—Before liis escape James had burnt the 
writs summoning a new Parliament; and, as he made 
his way down the Thames during his first attempt at 
flight, he had thrown the Great Seal 1 into the river. It 
was therefore impossible to summon a Parliament^ac¬ 
cording to the usual methods, but the difficulty was 
surmounted by the Privy Councillors. They convoked 
the House of Lords; and a second House was formed 




120 


THE HOUSE OF STUART-JAMES II. 


of those members of the Commons who had sat in any 
Parliament during the reign of Charles II., and of the 
Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council-men of 
London. 

Both Houses requested William to take upon himself 
the temporary administration of the kingdom, and to 
summon representatives of the counties and boroughs to 
a Convention, 2 to consider the affairs of the kingdom. 

There were in this Assembly five parties, and a clear 
knowledge of their proceedings is essential to an un¬ 
derstanding of the principles of our modern government. 

In the first place, there were two very small extreme 
sections—royalists, on the one hand, republicans, on the 
other. The former would have at once recalled the 
sovereign without making any demand for a renewal of 
constitutional rule ; the latter would have formed a 
commonwealth, refusing ever again to submit to a 
king. It soon became evident that both of these views 
met with little support, and those holding them joined 
in with the more numerous parties. 

Of the remaining three , two might be called ‘ tory * 
and one c whig.’ The first wished to recall James, but 
agreed that it would be necessary to take precautions 
to secure the liberties of the country. This party soon 
joined with the second , which declared that the fugitive 
king had by his flight deserted the throne, and was, in 
the eyes of the law, dead; 3 so that the next heir, Mary 
of Orange, was actually Queen of England. 

The third or whig party argued in a more thorough 
way. They pointed out that there had been main¬ 
tained the dangerous doctrine of the divine right 
of kings, many holding that the sovereign was inde¬ 
pendent of parliament and above the law; and they 


THE FALL OF THE STUARTS. 


12 I 


rightly held that such views were utterly inconsistent 
with the principles of a limited constitutional mon¬ 
archy. It was, they asserted, essential once and for 
ever to strike down a principle so fatal to freedom. 

Accordingly, they advocated that parliament should 
boldly depose the king, and confer the crown on some 
other prince—not necessarily the hereditary heir. This 
course was in effect adopted. 4 It was thus finally 
established that the English monarchy rests upon a 
compact between the king and people; and that, if 
the king defies the law of the country and attacks 
its liberty, he may with justice and in accordance with 
the constitution be deposed from the throne he has 
disgraced and from the office he has used for purposes 
so alien to its true function. This is the true purport 
of the Great Revolution of 1688. 

The regency was then offered to William and the 
crown to the Princess Mary. But the prince refused 
to occupy such a position, and Mary nobly declined a 
throne unshared by her husband. It was therefore 
agreed that William and Mary should be joint sovereigns, 
and the crown was accepted by them on this condition. 5 

Before they 1 ^ceived the crown they gave their 
assent to the famous Declaration of Bights , 6 by which 
for the first time a secure basis was obtained for a 
constitutional monarchy. Its more important provisions 
were those against the suspending and dispensing powers, 
and the levying of money without consent of Parliament. 
It was a clear limitation of the prerogatives of the sove¬ 
reign in regard to legislation, taxation, the maintenance 
of a standing army, the liberty of the person, and the 
rights of private property. 

This new charter of liberty received its name because 


122 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—J4MES II. 


it is, in its own words, a 1 Declaration ’ of the true 
4 rights ’ of the people of this realm ; and it concludes 
with the firm statement that ‘ they do claim, demand, 
and insist upon, all and singular the premises, 7 as their 
undoubted rights and liber tic's' 

It was finally confirmed by the Bill of Rights passed 
by the first Parliament of William and Mary. This bill 
also provided for the succession of the crown to William 
or Mary, as the one survived the other; to the Princess 
Anne 8 if Mary had no children, and failing these, to any 
children that might be born to William. It was de¬ 
clared illegal for a Catholic to hold the crown. 

Resistance in Scotland: the Massacre of Glencoe.— 
As soon as the troops of James were withdrawn from 
Scotland to repel the invasion of William, the Cove¬ 
nanters proclaimed William king; and although the 
Duke of Gordon for a time held Edinburgh Castle on 
behalf of James, he gave up all resistance as soon as 
the majority of the Scottish Estates 9 declared in favour 
of William and Mary. 

In the Highlands, however, Viscount Dundee 10 sum¬ 
moned the clans to his standard. They had assembled 
to the number of 3000 at Blair Castle, commanding the 
wild pass of Killiecrankie , 11 when the scouts brought in¬ 
telligence that General Mackay, who had about an equal 
number of men under his command, was entering the 
pass. The soldiers of Mackay were tired with a long 
march, and did not expect to find the enemy either so 
near at hand or so completely prepared ; accordingly, 
the majority of them, after passing the narrow defile, 
threw themselves on the ground to snatch a little repose 
until the others had come through the pass. 

Suddenly some musket-shots were heard, and Mackay 


THE FALL OF THE STUARTS. 


123 


had barely arranged his lines when the Highlanders 
were upon him. Firing one volley, they threw down 
their muskets and charged wildly down the pass with 



THE PASS OF KILLIECRANKIE. 


their claymores. The rush was like a mountain torrent 
and swept the troops of Mackay headlong before it. 
Never was there a victory more brilliant and complete 












124 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—JAMES II. 


but the death of Dundee, by a chance shot, turned it 
practically into a defeat, and in the following summer 
nearly all the clans sent in a formal submission. 

Only one clan, the Macdonalds of Glencoe , 12 delayed 
taking the oath of allegiance till after the time fixed by 
the proclamation 13 offering pardon on submission. Their 
delay was due wholly to a misunderstanding; 14 but 
William, who knew nothing of the circumstances, 15 gave 
a written order “ to extirpate that sept 16 of thieves for 
the vindication of public justice.” By means of the 
blackest treachery, the order was carried out to the letter. 

Glencoe is a wild valley not far from Loch Leven, 17 an 
inlet of the sea separating Argyleshire from Inverness. 
The valley is neither fruitful nor beautiful, and no one 
would choose it for a habitation except for the facilities 
it affords for defence. The Macdonalds did not number 
altogether more than 200, but would doubtless have sold 
their lives dear had not their murderers come in the 
guise of friends. 

One hundred and twenty men of Argyle’s regiment 
were sent to quarter on them ; and the Macdonalds, 
believing that their submission had been accepted, re¬ 
ceived them hospitably. After they had completely 
lulled all lingering suspicions of unfriendliness, the 
Campbells suddenly fell on their hosts at daybreak, and 
massacred all except a few who escaped to the mountains 
only to perish from hunger and cold amid the winter’s 
snow. This crime forms the worst stain on the memory 
of William, who was, at the very least, guilty of the 
grossest carelessness in a matter of life and death. 

War in Ireland: Battle of the Boyne.—Ireland was 
held for James by the Lord-Lieutenant Tyrconnel, who 
had under his command an army of 50,000 men. 


THE FALL OF THE STUARTS. 


125 


The supporters of William, on learning the flight of 
James, had collected for security at Enniskillen and 
Londonderry , where they maintained a heroic defence 
against Tyrconnel. The latter city was only saved from 
surrender by the entry of an English ship with provisions. 

Meantime James had landed at Kinsale, 18 and had 
been received in Dublin with the utmost enthusiasm. 
There he summoned an Irish Parliament, which passed 
an Act of attainder against the leading Protestants of 
Ireland. 

But already the Protestants of Enniskillen had de¬ 
feated the royal troops with great slaughter at Newton 
Butler™ the blockade of Londonderry had been raised, 
and the north of Ireland conquered for William. Mar¬ 
shal Schomberg, 20 taking advantage of the panic thus 
created, landed at Carrickfergus with 10,000 men and 
entrenched himself at Dundalk, till the advance of 
winter rendered operations impossible. 

In the spring, reinforcements of Dutch and Danish 
soldiers, with several English regiments, brought his 
force to over 30,000 men; and, in a short time, 
William himself arrived to take supreme command. 
James, whose army, though augmented by 8000 French 
troops sent by Louis, did not muster much above 
20,000, resolved to await the attack of William on 
the south side of the Boyne, 21 having Drogheda strongly 
garrisoned on his right, and the bridge of Slane on his 
left. William determined to attack strongly both 
flanks of the enemy, while his centre plunged boldly 
into the river. To save the left flank of James, the 
French troops were withdrawn from the centre; and 
the Irish infantry, left alone, broke and fled as soon as 
the troops of William made good their footing. For a 


126 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—JAMES II, 



THJ£ FLIGHT OF JAMES FROM THE BOYNE- 























THE FALL OF THE STUARTS. 


127 


time, the Irish cavalry held them in check; but already 
the thoughts of James were bent only on flight, and he 
made no effort to rally his men. At the first symptoms 
of wavering he galloped towards Dublin, and in hot 
haste escaped again to France. 

The Irish, deserted by their king and disheartened 
by their disastrous defeat, continued their opposition to 
William for more than a year. Before they were finally 
subdued he returned to England, leaving Churchill in 
supreme command. By the capitulation of Limerick, 
resistance was finally abandoned ; but the treaty 22 then 
entered into between the generals was not observed by 
the Protestant Irish Parliament, and a system of iron 
despotism was enforced for more than a hundred years 
afterwards. 


1. The Great Seal; impressed on all docu¬ 

ments, proclamations, and edicts in the 
name 0 / the sovereign. 

2. Convention. That is, an assembly equiva¬ 

lent to a parliament, but not called by a 
constitutional head like the king. The 
name is applied (1) to the ' Barebones * 
parliament summoned by Cromwell in 
1653, before he was appointed Lord Pro¬ 
tector (see p. 89); (2) to the assembly 
called by General Monk which recalled 
Charles II. (see pp. 95 and 99) ; and (3) to 
this body which dethroned James II., and 
elected William of Orange. 

3 It is a maxim of our monarchy that 9 the 
king never dies ,’ for the moment that one 
sovereign ceases to live the next heir has 
really begun to reign. This party held 
that whenever the man James Stuart had 
left the throne vacant, the mown had de¬ 
volved upon his daughter Mary, who was 
now actually queen. 

4. What took place was this—(l) the Commons 

enacted that M King James having en¬ 
deavoured to subvert the constitution of 
the kingdom by breaking the original 
compact between king and people . . . 
and having withdrawn himself out of the 
kingdom, has abdicated the government, 
and that the throne is thereby vacant;" 
(2) the Lords altered the word • abdicated * 
into ' deserted .' 

5. The crown was offered to William and Mary 

conjointly on 13th February 1689, 


6. Declaration of Rights, not to bo confounded 

with the Petition of Right of 1628. The 
four most important bulwarks of English 
liberty are— 

(1) Magna Charta wrung from King 
John (1215), 

(2) The Petition of Right exacted from 
Charles I. in 1628 (see p. 24), 

(3) The Habeas Corpus Act forced from 
Charles II. in 1679 (see p. 109), 

and (4) The Declaration of Rights in January 
1689. 

7. Premises, the propositions stated before in 

the Declaration. 

8. Princess Anne, second daughter of James 

II., married to Prince George of Den¬ 
mark. 

9. Scottish Estates, the equivalent of the Eng¬ 

lish Parliament. It included bishops, peers, 
and members of the Commons. 

10. Viscount Dundee, formerly Graham of Claver- 

house (see note 12, p. 105). 

11. Killiecrankie. in the district of Blair Athol 

in the north of Perthshire. The battle was 
fought on July 27th, 1689. 

12. Glencoe. The massacre of Glencoe took place 

on February 13, 1692. 

13. The Proclamation fixed the last day of 1691, 

as the time before which submission had 
to be made. 

14. Macdonald hail gone to Fort-William within 

the time to make submission, but the 
governor could not receive the oath of 
allegiance, apd sent him to Inyerary to 



128 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—WILLIAM III. 


take it. He arrived there a day or two too 
late. 

15. William was deceived by the Earl of Breadal- 

bane (a sworn foe of the Macdonalds) and 
Sir John Dalrymple Master of Stair, who 
are chiefly responsible for the deed of 
blood; but the king should never have 
signed an order for the extermination of 
an entire clan, without the most careful 
inquiry. 

16. Sept, a tribe or clan, so called from the staff 

or sceptre of the clan. Others say that it is 
probably a corruption of the word ' sect.' 

17. Loch Leven, not to be confounded with 

Loch Leven in the county of Kinross. 


18. James landed on March 12,168*. 

19. Newton Butler, south-west of Enniskillen, 

on the upper Lough Erne, in the county of 
Fermanagh. The battle was fought on 
July 30, 1689. 

20. Schomberg, a French refugee, who,upon the 

revocation of the Edict of Nantes, fled to 
Holland. He became the faithful friend 
of William, and was overcome with grief 
at his death. 

21. The battle of the Boyne was fought on July 

1, 1690. 

22. The ‘ Treaty of Limerick ’ has thus become 

known as ‘ The Broken Treaty.' 


WILLIAM III .: 1 THE KING APPOINTED BY 

PARLIAMENT. 



WILLIAM AND MARY, 


HARACTER and Policy of 
William.—When W illiam 
of Orange ascended the 
throne of England he was 
in his thirty-eighth year. 
His aspect was pale and 
furrowed with lines of care, 
for his bodily frame was 
all too weak for the heroic 
spirit which animated it:— 


A fiery soul, which, workin 
out its way, 


Fretted the pigmy body to decay, 

And o’er-informed 2 the tenement of clay .” 3 


His eye was of piercing brightness, his brow lofty, 
his manner cold and passionless. “ He had,” says a 
contemporary , 4 “ a thin and weak body, was brown¬ 
haired, and of a clear and delicate complexion. He 
had a Roman eagle nose, bright and sparkling eyes, a 






THE KING APPOINTED BY PARLIAMENT. 129 

large front, 5 and a countenance composed to gravity 
and authority* . * . He spoke little and very slowly, 
and most commonly with a disgusting dryness, which 
was his character at all times, except in a day of battle; 
for then he was all fire, though without passion, he was 
then everywhere and looked to everything.” 

With his 1 intimates ’ he was frank, affectionate, and 
witty, and he was capable of inspiring friendships 
stronger than death ; 6 but by the nation he was respected 
rather than loved, for he did not shine in social inter¬ 
course and experienced little pleasure in the routine 
of life. His mind was formed for great achievements; 
and he found his keenest enjoyment in perilous ad- 
* venture, in the excitement of battle, and in the game of 
politics which he waged on such a stupendous scale 
with his antagonist Louis XIV. of France. 

William’s eager desire was to be not leader of a 
faction or party, but King of the whole of England. 
It is one of the glories of this monarch, that through 
his generosity no blood was shed in England at the 
great Revolution. The Whigs, who had brought him 
to the throne, clamoured for vengeance against their 
Tory foes; but the firm king, by an Act of Grace 7 from 
the crown, declared “ a perfect oblivion for all political 
offences up to that moment.” 8 

The chief motive which led William of Orange to 
accept the crown of England, was the immense accession 
of strength he thereby acquired for withstanding the 
ambitious projects of Louis of France. The two sove¬ 
reigns, William and Louis, stood out prominently as the 
most powerful rulers of their time. The destinies of 
Europe virtually depended on the success of the one 
against the other. From his childhood, 9 William had 

<4> 1 


130 


THE HOUSE OF STUART—WILLIAM III. 


carried on a heroic straggle against his great rival. By 
the terrible expedient of bursting the sea-dykes and 
flooding the greater part of his country, 10 he had saved 
Holland from French conquest; and after continuing 
the conflict for six years, he at last, by the peace of 
Nimwegen, 11 had secured its independence. 

William and Louis of France.—Shortly after ascend¬ 
ing the throne of England, William succeeded in forming 
the league against France known as the Grand Alliance, 12 
of which the principal members were England, Holland, 
Germany, and Spain. While William was occupied in 
Ireland, fortune had been favouring the arms of France 
in its contest with the Allies. In addition to this, the 
allied fleet had sustained a severe defeat off Beachy 
Head , owing to the culpable reluctance of Torrington, 13 
the English admiral, to engage in battle, while the Dutch 
portion of the fleet were bravely contending against 
superior numbers. The French landed on the coast of 
Devon and burned Teignmouth, but the outrage was fatal 
to the Jacobite rising, which it was hoped their landing 
would incite. Had Tourville dashed at London instead 
of attacking the west, the Stuart dynasty might have 
been re-established by foreign force, and the whole course 
of English modern history completely changed. 

As the chief spirit of the coalition was William, Louis’ 
policy was to give such aid to James that the attention 
of his rival would be concentrated on the defence of his 
own throne. Thus the issues of the great European war 
depended at this time upon the result of the struggle 
in Ireland; and the victories of the Boyne in 1690, 
and of Aughrim 14 in 1691, far more than counter¬ 
balanced the French successes on the continent. 

France was now threatened along its whole line of 


THE KING APPOINTED BY PARLIAMENT. 


131 

defence—on the east, by the Emperor of Germany; on 
the south-east, by the Duke of Savoy; on the south, 
by the King of Spain; and on the north, by William 
of Orange. Louis, however, massed a large force in 
the Netherlands, where the fortress of ]\lons 15 fell into 
his hands. William retreated towards Brussels until he 
had collected an army sufficient to enable him to take 
the offensive, but he was unable to tempt the French 
general to venture an engagement. 

So elated were the Jacobites 16 in Paris by the victory 
of Mons, that Louis believed a strong army had only 
to show itself in England to make the cause of James 
triumphant. With that view, he proposed to make a 
descent on the English coast with 30,000 men, Tourville 
preceding the transports with the French fleet. 

Russel, the English admiral, had previously shown 
some signs of treason, but he felt keenly the disgrace 
of submission to a foreign foe. “ Do not think,” he 
said, “ I will let the French triumph over us on our 
own seas. If I meet them I will fight them, even 
though King James were on board.” The French 
numbered only fifty ships to the ninety of the allies; 
and as Russel proved staunch, the contest was not 
doubtful long. The larger portion of the enemy’s 
fleet reached St. Malo or Cherbourg in safety, but 
thirteen vessels were stranded at La Hogue , 17 where, 
after the sailors had escaped on shore, they were burned 
by the English in sight of the French camp. The vic¬ 
tory of La Hogue rendered France for a time practically 
powerless on the sea, and overthrew for ever all hopes of 
succour to the Jacobite cause through a French invasion. 
With it also the last crisis of the war was past and 
William’s ultimate triumph was now practically certain. 



THE BURNING OF THE FRENCH SHIRS AT LA HOGUE. 



















































































































THE KING APPOINTED BY PARLIAMENT. 


*33 


By the year 1697, Louis was reduced to such ex¬ 
tremities that he agreed to the treaty of Rysivick , 18 
Besides resigning all the fruits of his previous vic¬ 
tories, he consented to recognise William as king of 
England and abandon the cause of the Stuarts. 

Effects of the War upon Home Affairs.—The pro¬ 
gress of the war, as might be expected, exercised great 
influence on domestic affairs. William, it was said, was 
sacrificing the interests of England, its treasures, and 
its soldiers, for the sake of the country of his birth. 

These* sentiments were eagerly fostered by the Jaco¬ 
bites. Many leading statesmen among the Tories, who 
from the beginning had only been half-hearted in the 
cause of William, opened up communications'with the 
court of St. Germains, 19 and various plots were formed 
against the life of the king. 

But the most dangerous project was promoted by Marl¬ 
borough. Justly or unjustly, this general thought that 
his military talents had received from William only 
scant recognition. He knew himself superior to the 
Dutch officers whom William intrusted with the chief 
commands, and his proud spirit scorned a subordinate 
position. 

His plan was to induce Parliament to petition for the 
discharge of all foreign troops. He told the Jacobites 
that then, secure in his influence over the English 
army and with the Princess Anne 20 in favour of the 
scheme, he would effect the return of James without 
shedding a drop of blood. His real purpose seems to 
have been to declare for Anne, and thus make himself \ 
through the influence of his wife, arbiter of the fate of 
England and of Europe. 

The exact steps taken by Marlborough to further his 


134 THE HOUSE OF STUART—WILLIAM III. 

design are not known, for it was discovered by William 
before it began to excite public interest. Marlborough 
was deprived of all his offices, and banished from court. 

In addition to the encouragement which it gave to 
conspiracies against the government of William, the war 
tended to increase the influence of the House of Com¬ 
mons. At first, William had chosen his Ministers from 
both parties in the state; but, as the Tories and Whigs 
would not work together, he fell upon the expedient 
of choosing his Ministers from the party which had 
the majority in. the Commons, thus making -the fate 
of the Ministry and the character of the national policy 
depend chiefly on the vote of the second chamber . 21 

The only surviving child of Anne having died in 
1700, it became necessary to pass a new Act of 
Settlement, 22 to provide for the succession to the 
throne after the death of that Princess herself. All 
the descendants of Charles I. were passed over, and the 
crown was settled upon the Princess Sophia of Hanover 
and her heirs, being Protestants. 

After the accession of his grandson, the Duke of 
Anjou, to the throne of Spain, Louis was emboldened to 
seize the seven fortresses, 23 which, according to the 
Ryswick treaty, were regarded as the Dutch barrier. 
This led to a renewal of war, and the conclusion of 
a new Grand Alliance; but before the declaration of 
war was made, William sustained a severe fall from 
his horse, which broke his collar-bone and gave a 
shock to his enfeebled frame from which he never re¬ 
covered. 

Thus ended the reign of one of the greatest of the 
English sovereigns. “ I considered him,” says Burnet, 
“ as a person raised up by God to resist the powers of 


THE KING APPOINTED BY PARLIAMENT. 


*35 


France, and the progress of tyranny and persecution. 

.And the thirty years, from the year 1672 to his death, 
in which he acted so great a part, carry in them so 
many amazing steps of a glorious and distinguishing 
Providence, that, in the words of David, I10 may be 
called, ‘ The man of God’s right hand, whom he made 
strong for himself.' After all the abatement that may 
be allowed for his errors and faults, he ought still to be 
reckoned among the greatest princes that our history, 
or indeed that any other can afford.” 


1. William IEL William and Mary reigned to¬ 

gether from 1089-1094: after the death of 
Mary, William reigned alone from 1094- 
17t*2. But as the policy pursued was 
throughout William's, it is better to regard 
the whole period as the reign of William 
111 . 

2. Informed, animated , gave life to. 

3. This quotation is from Dryden’s description 

of Shaftesbury in his satire of ‘Absalom 
and Achitophel.’ 

4. Bishop Burnet (1043-1715). The passage is 

from his History of his own Time, lie 
says of William III., ‘I had occasion to 
know him well, having observed him very 
carefully in a course of sixteen years.’ 

5. Front, \.e. t forehead. 

0. The most beautiful example of this was the 
undying love for him shown by his noble 
wife. Queen Mary. 

7 Act of Grace, issued in 1090, after William 
had in vain sought to induce Parliament 
to pass an Act of Indemnity. 

8. From Bright s History of England, vol. iii. p. 

825. 

9. William was born in 1650, eight days after the 

death of his father. He had thus been the 
enemy of Louis of France from the very 
moment of his birth. 

10. This had happened in 1072, after the united 

provinces of Holland had chosen him as 
Stadtholder. 

11. Nimwegen, usually spelt Nimeguen, a town 

in Holland on the Waal, about 30 miles 
south of the Zuyder Zee. The peace was 
declared in 1078. 

12. Grand Alliance, concluded May 12th, 1089. 

13. Torrington, formerly Admiral Herbert. 

14. Aughrim, often spelt Aghriin, in Galway, 

near the junction of the River Suck with 
the Shannon. 

15. Mons. in Hainault, one of the great frontier 


fortresses of Belgium. It was taken in 
April 9th, 1091. 

10. Jacobites, followers of James , the name 
given to the upholders of the Stuart 
cause. 

17. Cape La Hogue, in the north of the peninsula 

of Cotentin, near the town of Cherbourg. 
The battle was fought on May 17th, 1092. 

18. Ryswick, a village in Holland between the 

Hague and Delft, where William had a 
palace. The peace was signed 20tli Sep¬ 
tember 1097. 

19. St. Germain’s, a palace near Paris, where 

James held his court. 

20. Princess Anne. Marlborough had married 

Sarah Jennings, a clever beauty of the 
court, who became the attendant of the 
Princess Anne. She quickly acquired the 
complete confidence of the Princess, and 
absolute sway over her irresolute and de¬ 
pendent nature. The two ladies were soon 
on terms of such absolute friendship that 
the formal barriers of rank were cast 
aside and they addressed each other on 
terms of equality as Mrs. Freeman and 
Mrs. Morley. If Anne were on the throne, 
Marlborough would lack nothing which it 
was in her power to grant. 

21. Two other effects of this war were the es¬ 

tablishment of the Bank of England, and 
the beginning of the National Debt. In 
order to meet the expenses of the war. 
Lord Halifax adopted the proposal of 
William Paterson, a Scotchman, for the 
establishment of the Bank of England, by 
which a loan of £12,000,000 was obtained 
by public subscription, and the nucleus 
of the National Debt was formed. 

22. Act of Settlement. See page 109. 

23. The seven fortresses, extending along the 

Belgian frontier from Newport, near 
Dunkirk, to Mons. 




THE HOUSE OF STUART—ANNE. 


136 


THE AGE OF ANNE. 

-*•, HARACTER and Policy 
of the Reign . 1 — The 
reign of Anne is one of the 
most brilliant periods in the 
annals of England. Under 
the leadership of Marl¬ 
borough, her armies won 
a succession of splendid 
triumphs ; under the aus¬ 
pices of Newton, 2 a new era 
of modern science was inau¬ 
gurated; and in literature, 
the age of Anne is second 
anne. only to the Elizabethan 

period and the Victorian era. 3 

Yet, although Anne cherished ideas of her sovereign 
rights as extreme as those of the rest of her family, there 
never was a reign in which the personality of the sove¬ 
reign was less visible. The understanding of the queen 
was dull and her temperament indolent. None of the 
brilliant encounters between the ‘ wits ’ 4 of her time 
took place in her presence, and she possessed as little 
interest in art and science as her father. 

Although Anne’s sympathies were with the Tories and 
her first House of Commons possessed a very decided 
Tory majority, the nation was too deeply committed to 
its gigantic undertaking to draw back without incurring 
overwhelming disgrace. Accordingly, there was no 
change in the foreign policy of England and no delay 
in the preparations for war. Marlborough and Godol- 
phin, 5 confident of the support of the country, began to 






THE AGE OF ANNE. 


137 


fill the leading offices with Whigs, and the brilliant 
campaigns of Marlborough gave that party a very decided 
majority in the second Parliament. 

Of greater importance than the character of Anne, 
is that of the military genius who led the armies of 
England during her reign. Marlborough was not un¬ 
worthy to succeed William as the head of the Grand 
Alliance. 6 Though now over forty years of age, he 
still possessed remarkable personal beauty. His perfect 
manners, which, according to Chesterfield, 7 * engrossed 
the graces,’ enabled him to secure the friendship of all 
whom he cared to win, and who had no special reason 
for cherishing hostility against him. He possessed a 
patience which was proof against the strongest provoca¬ 
tion if it was his interest to restrain himself, and his 
insight into weaknesses and peculiarities of character 
was so keen that no one was his equal in warding off 
animosities and softening disputes. 

Marlborough had far higher military genius than 
William could claim, for he was one of the greatest 
generals of modern times, and in his own age his 
achievements were unrivalled. The lustre of his career 
was, however, dimmed by selfishness of the most despic¬ 
able kind. On account of his miserly love of gold, he 
was frequently prompted to actions incredibly mean; 
and in the pursuit of power, gratitude, friendship and 
honour were equally ignored. 

The War of the Spanish Succession, 8 1702-1713.— 
The first two campaigns of Marlborough were, owing to 
the inaction of the Dutch deputies, 9 devoid of any great 
victories; but he succeeded, by the daring energy of his 
attacks, in driving the French from all the fortresses they 
had held on the Lower Rhine. 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


138 

Meantime, while the other forces of the allies 10 had in 
no case achieved marked success, Louis had gained a 
footing on the Danube and was about to march on 
Vienna. It was a bold and clever venture; and but 
for the fact that he was outwitted by a still more brilliant 
manoeuvre n on the part of Marlborough, would have in¬ 
flicted a death-blow on the Grand Alliance. 

Divining with the instinctive rapidity of genius the 
intentions of Louis, Marlborough did not hesitate for a 
moment in the hazardous attempt to baffle them. He 
resolved at once to march across Germany, and join his 
forces with those from Italy. 12 He succeeded in inter¬ 
cepting the French line of advance ; and, although the 
enemy had the advantage of a very strong position, he 
gained the overwhelming victory of Blenheim} 2, No 
fewer than 40,000 of the French were killed or taken 
prisoners. 

The results of this battle were momentous. It freed 
Germany from the grasp of France; it compelled the 
Elector of Bavaria to sever his connection with Louis; 
and it enabled Marlborough to make himself master of 
the Lower Moselle, the gateway to an advance into France. 
Above all, it demonstrated that in Marlborough a military 
genius had arisen, with whose impetuous rapidity and 
tactical skill 14 the best generals of France were unable 
to cope. 

The brilliant success of the English arms on the 
Danube had been preceded a fortnight previously by a 
remarkable piece of good fortune in Spain. Sir George 
Rooke, disappointed in his hopes of capturing Barcelona, 
succeeded in seizing the fortress of Gibraltar . 15 Marl¬ 
borough, after the victory of Blenheim, intended to 
march into France 16 along the line of the Moselle; but 


THE AGE OF ANNE. 


*39 


the supineness of the Imperial generals prevented him 
from carrying out a design which would have ended 
the war in one campaign. One year was therefore 
spent in comparative inaction; but, in the following 
year, he gained the great victory of families . 17 

This battle was soon followed by the abandonment 
of Flanders by the French. Again the timidity of the 
allies prevented Marlborough from securing the full fruits 
of his victory by an invasion of France. 

Although the spell of French influence was broken, 
the war still progressed 
with varying fortunes. I11 
Spain , the brilliant genius 
of the Duke of Berwick 18 
made the French cause tri¬ 
umphant ; while, in Italy , 

Eugene after driving 
the French from before 
Turin had been foiled in 
his attack on Provence. 

These reverses were soon 
far more than atoned for 
by the surprise and over¬ 
throw of the French by 
Marlborough at Oudenarde, 19 and the capture of Lille. 20 

So disheartened was Louis on learning of the sur¬ 
render of this town, that he proposed terms of peace; 
but after some months of negotiation he was unable to 
accept the hard terms that were offered, and resolved 
to make a last effort to retrieve his fortunes. 

Again the forces of Marlborough and Eugene united, 
this time to strike at the heart of France. The frontier 
was defended by the army of Villars, and the fortresses 









140 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


of Tournai, Mons, and Valenciennes 21 lay in the way 
of the invaders. Tonrnai surrendered after a month’s 
siege, and the allies were about to invest Mons when 
they were threatened by the French army. 

Instead of attacking Marlborough, the French began 
to entrench themselves at Malplaquet, 22 in a glade between 
two forests, to bar his march southwards. This Marl¬ 
borough permitted them to do until some reinforcements 
he was expecting came up. On this account, the battle 
was the most prolonged and the bloodiest in the whole 
war; but although the allies lost 20,000 men—double 
the loss of the French—the victory lay with them, and 
Mons soon afterwards surrendered. 

In Spain, in the following year, Stanhope won the 
splendid triumph of Saragossa. 23 His success, indeed, 
only served to show the hopelessness of contending 
against the preference of the Spanish people for the Duke 
of Anjou ; 24 but France was now too exhausted to render 
her alliance with Spain any longer formidable to the 
peace of Europe. Peace was not concluded till nearly 
two years afterwards, but before this Marlborough had 
ceased to command the English troops. 

Domestic Affairs.—While these years were rendered 
illustrious by the splendid successes of the English 
arms on the Continent, they were not altogether barren 
in their influence on the domestic history of England. 

They -witnessed the completion of the union of Eng¬ 
land and Scotland 25 into one kingdom under the 
name of Great Britain, the succession to be regulated 
by the Act of Settlement. The legal system and 
administration of each country were to remain sepa¬ 
rate, as were also the two Churches; but henceforth 
there was to be only one House of Peers and one 


THE AGE OF ANNE. 


141 

House of Commons. On the part of Scotland, the 
proposed union at first awoke jealousy and alarm, but 
it was carried in the Scotch Parliament. With the 
experience of the increasing benefits arising from it, all 
regrets at its accomplishment died gradually away. The 
inhabitants of the two countries, although retaining 
several marked peculiarities in habits and belief, are 
now one in purpose and sympathy. 

The close alliance which Marlborough found it neces¬ 
sary to form with the Whigs, had gradually weakened 
his influence with the Queen. She had never become 
reconciled to the Act of Settlement, 20 her ardent wish 
being that her brother the Pretender 2 ' should succeed 
her on the throne. Her pleasant and amiable temper 
in some degree restrained her from violent action, but 
it spoke volumes for her attachment to the Marlboroughs 
that she was induced to sanction the appointment of so 
many leading Whigs to high office. 28 

The final break was caused by a personal quarrel 
between the Queen and Marlborough’s wife. Anne had 
.gradually become weary of the domineering temper of 
the Duchess; and began to seek solace in the gentle 
submissiveness of Abigail Hill, a cousin of the Duchess, 
who on her recommendation had been made lady of 
the bedchamber. 

The new favourite, who now became Mrs. Masliam, 20 
had formed a close friendship with Harley, the leader 
of the Tory party and a most* accomplished courtier. 

While the influence of Godolphin and Marlborough 
was thus being completely undermined at court, the 
former was so foolish as to engage in a religious pro¬ 
secution. Dr. Sacheverell, a conspicuous High Church 
preacher, had attacked the principles of the Revolution 


142 


THE HOUSE OF STUART. 


in a sermon preached in St. Paul’s. He was impeached 30 
before the House of Lords, and found guilty, but was 
only sentenced to abstain from ‘preaching for three years. 
Such a sentence was regarded by the Tories as a virtual 
triumph ; and, on learning the result, the people gave 
expression to their rejoicing by the lighting of bonfires. 

This prosecution violently offended the Queen, who dis¬ 
missed Godolphin and the leading Whigs from office even 
before the dissolution of Parliament. In the new Par¬ 
liament, the Tory majority was very decided; and, in the 
Ministry that followed its election, Harley became Lord 
High Treasurer, having a short time previously been 
created Earl of Oxford. With him was associated St. 
John, whom the Queen created Viscount Bolingbroke, 
and who became Secretary of State. St. John was 
unrivalled as an orator, and afterwards acquired consider¬ 
able fame as a philosophical writer. 

Marlborough was dismissed from his command on 
1st January 1712; and in the following year the treaty 
of Utrecht was signed, 31 permitting the Duke of Anjou 
to succeed to the throne of Spain as Philip V., but secur¬ 
ing to England Minorca and Gibraltar; while France 
promised to cease to shelter the Pretender. 

The remaining years of Anne’s reign were uneventful, 
being remarkable chiefly for the jealousies of the two 
Ministers, their plots against each other, and the intrigues 
of Bolingbroke on behalf of the Pretender. Anne died 
before the schemes of Bolingbroke had time to attain 
fruition, but not before Oxford had been dismissed from 
office on account of his supposed leaning to the House 
of Hanover. Immediately before his dismissal, Oxford 
and Mrs. Masham had a violent quarrel in the presence 
of the Queen, from which she retired in the utmost agita- 


THE AGE OF ANNE. 


M 3 


tion and exhaustion, saying that she would 
live the scene. Three days afterwards she 
with apoplexy, which gradually passed into 
death.' 12 


never out- 
was seized 
stupor and 


1. The Reign. Anno reigned from 1702*1714. 

2. Newton (1G42-1727), the celebrated mathe¬ 

matician, Sir Isaac Newton; his greatest 
discovery was the Law of Gravitation. 

3. It is remarkable that the three most brilliant 

epochs in English Literature have been 
under her Queens —Elizabeth, Anne, Vic¬ 
toria. The most famous poets in Anne’s 
reign were Dryden and Pope; the princi¬ 
pal prose writers were Addison, Steele, 
Swift, and Defoe. 

4. Wits. Witty conversation was specially 

cultivated in the reign of Anne, even 
among some of the nobility. 

5. Godolphin, an admirable 'man of business’ 

whom Marlborough got made Lord High 
Treasurer—a post equivalent to our five 
Lords of the Treasury, of whom the Prime 
Minister is one and the Chancellor of the 
Exchequer another. 

6. The Grand Alliance included, besides Eng¬ 

land and Holland, the Emperor of Ger¬ 
many, Prussia, several minor princes, and 
ultimately Savoy and Portugal. 

7. Chesterfield, a courtier or statesman of the 

succeeding generation, who, in his • Letters 
to his Son ,' insists much on the importance 
of cultivating the external graces. 

8. Spanish Succession. The purpose of this 

war was to preserve the Balance of Power 
by preventing a grandson of Louis XIV. 
(Philip) from becoming King of Spain. The 
allies supported the Archduke Charles of 
Austria. 

9. Dutch deputies, who accompanied the army, 

and whose consent was necessary before 
any important movements could be 
effected. 

10. The Other Forces of the Allies. There were 

really four theatres of war in this Euro¬ 
pean conflict(1) The Netherlands, (2) 
The Middle Rhine and Upper Danube, (3) 
Italy, (4) Spain. 

11. Led by Prince Eugene of Savoy, one of the 

greatest generals of his time. 

12. The allied troops may fairly be estimated at 

30,000, of which 36,000 were commanded by 
Marlborough; and the number of the 
French may be set down at 60,000. 

13. Blenheim, a village in the west of Bavaria 

on the Danube, 33 miles below Ulm. The 
battle was fought on the 13th August 1704. 

14. Tactical skill, skill in manoeuvring. It in¬ 

cludes skill both in planning a campaign 
and in directing the troops in actual battle. 

15. Gibraltar, the key of the Mediterranean, still 


remains in British possession, almost the 
sole relic of her former Continental pos¬ 
sessions. It was taken August 3rd, 1704. 

16. To march into France. This indicates how 

complete a change Marlborough’s genius 
had effected. Formerly the French had 
always invaded and almost overrun the 
Netherlands; Marlborough is now ready 
to ' march into France 

17. Ramilies, in Belgium, 26 miles S.E. of Brus¬ 

sels. The victory was won May 23rd, 1706. 

18. The Duke of Berwick, the natural son of 

James II. and Anne Churchill. He was 
thus Marlborough’s nephew by blood, al¬ 
though he was fighting on the side of 
France. 

19. Oudenarde, Belgium, on the Scheldt, 33 miles 

west of Brussels. 

20. Lille, in France , on the north-eastern fron¬ 

tier. Marlborough had at last carried the 
war into the enemy’s country. 

21. The first, and third of these arc in the north¬ 

east of France, Mons is on the borders of 
Belgium. 

22. Malplaquet, a town in the north-east of 

France, close to the Belgian frontier. The 
battle was fought 11th September, 1709. 

23. Saragossa, on the Ebro, in the north-east of 

Spain. The victory of Saragossa was gained 
20th August, 1710. 

24. The grandson of Louis XIV. He was estab¬ 

lished as King of Spain after the war, so 
that the French gained the main point 
contended for. 

25. The Union was effected on the 6th March, 

1707. 

26. Act of Settlement, see p. 109. 

27. The young Prince James Edward Stuart, her 

half-brother. 

28. The political history of the parties in this 

reign may be summed up as follows: (1) 
At the beginning of the reign, the Tories 
were in power; (2) The influence of Marl¬ 
borough led to the gradual introduction of 
Whig ministers; (3) At last, Harley the 
Tory leader resigned, and a Whig ministry 
was constituted (1708); (4) Finally, the fall 
of tbe Whigs and the formation of a Tory 
ministry took place in 1710. 

29. Mrs. M: 1 sham, by her marriage with a 

gentleman of the Queen’s household. 

30. He was charged with sedition. 

31. 13th July. 1713. 

32. Anne died on 1st August (12th August by the 

New Style) 1713. 





TTAITOTERrAK BRIT AIM". 



200 









































































































































































A GERMAN KING UPON THE ENGLISH THRONE. 145 


II. THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY. 

A GERMAN KING UPON THE ENGLISH 

THRONE 


TABLE SHOWING THE DESCENT OF THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY. 



James I. 

1 


1 „ 1 T 

Henry, Charles I. 

died 1612. 


1 

Elizabeth 
= Frederick, 

Charles II. 

1 

James II. 

1 

Elector Palatine. 
Mary 1 

= William of Orange. Sophia, 

1 

James Edward, 
the Pretender 
(born 1688, 
died 1765). 

■ • 1 

1 

Anne. 

second 

daughter 

(born 

1665). 

1 w 1 

Maky = >> illiam of Orange. 
eldest 
daughter 
(bom 

1662). 

daughter) 

= Ernest 
Augustus, 
Elector of 
Hanover. 

1 

George 1. 

1 

Charles Edward, 
the Young Pretender 
(died 1788). 

1 

Henry Benedict, 

Cardinal of York 
(died 1807). The last 
of the Stuarts. 

(born 1660). 



HARACTERof the Period 
and of the Sovereign. 1 — 
With the Georges, there 
commences a new epoch 
in English history: we now 
enter upon the eighteenth 
century—the era of the 
French Revolution; and 
from the very outset we 
can trace the causes which 
led to that terrible rising 
of the oppressed masses 
geobgk 1. against their tyrants. 

“ As one views Europe, in the early part of the last 

(4) K 





























146 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE I. 

century, the landscape is awful—wretched wastes, beg¬ 
gared and plundered ; half-burned cottages, and trem¬ 
bling peasants gathering piteous harvests; gangs of 
such tramping along with bayonets behind them, and 
corporals with canes and cats-of-nine-tails to flog them 
to barracks. By these passes my lord’s gilt carriage 
floundering through the ruts, as he swears at the 
postillions, and toils on to the Residenz 2 —the enormous, 
hideous, gilded, monstrous marble palace, where the 
prince is. Round all that royal splendour lies a nation 
enslaved and ruined : there are people robbed of their 
rights, communities laid waste, faith, justice, commerce 
trampled upon, and well-nigh destroyed—nay, in the 
very centre of royalty itself, what horrible stains and 
meanness, crime and shame ! ” 3 

Throughout the Continent, the monarchical principle 4 
had everywhere triumphed after the destruction of the 
feudal system ; the nobility had been overthrown by the 
crown, and the proudest peers of each realm were ready 
to perform the most menial services for the sovereign. 
Although the English Parliament had fought and won 
the battle of the Commons against the King, yet the 
influence of this European servility to rulers was verv 
great upon morals, politics, and court life. 

To the surprise even of his adherents, George I. 
succeeded quietly to the throne; and was proclaimed in 
England, Scotland, and Ireland, without opposition. 

The new monarch was a plain, dull, narrow man; 
honest and faithful, it is true, but without splendid or 
striking qualities. He never acquired any knowledge 
of the English language, and Hanover was always more 
to him than England. But, although a despot in Ger¬ 
many, he was a most moderate ruler in England, 

a 


A GERMAN KING UPON THE ENGLISH THRONE. 147 

desiring to leave it to itself as much as possible and 
to live out of it as much as he could. 5 

As George had owed his accession to the Whigs, he 
placed himself entirely in the hands of that party and 
excluded the Tories from all share in court favour. 
Accordingly, disturbances in the cause of the exiled 
Stuarts took place in various parts of England. So 
violent did the mobs become, that it was thought 
necessary to pass the Riot Act 6 —empowering the local 
authorities to disperse all turbulent assemblies. 

The ’Fifteen.—The Jacobites were determined to 
make a great effort to drive out one whom they 
regarded as a usurper. Accordingly, there took place 
the rising commonly called the ’15, from the year in 
which it occurred. North of the Grampians, the 
Earl of Mar gathered together the leading Jacobites 
as if to a hunting party, and began the insurrection. 
He speedily had command of the north of Scotland, and 
despatched southwards a detachment under Brigadier 
Macintosh, which managed to pass the Forth and then 
moved on to Kelso. Here they were joined by a troop 
of horse under Lord Kenmure, and a detachment of 
Englishmen under Lord Derwentwater and Mr. Forster.' 
The plan was to advance into England and continue the 
revolt there. The Highlanders were with much diffi¬ 
culty persuaded to leave their own country, and the 
whole party marched south as far as Preston. The 
English Jacobites showed no signs of giving them real 
aid; and on the I 3 th November, the royal army 8 sur¬ 
rounded the town. The rebels, badly generalled and 
badly disciplined, laid down their arms with scarcely any 
resistance. 

On the same day, Argyle, who commanded for tho 


1 4 8 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE I. 


government in Scotland, encountered Mar at Sheriffmuir, 
near Dunblane, in Perthshire. Mar’s left was posted 
behind a morass; his right swept down on the foe, and 
drove them on towards Stirling in headlong confusion. 
When near that town, Mar heard that his left had 
been routed. Taking advantage of a frost which turned 
the morass into an excellent road, Argyle had passed 
over, fallen on the enemy, and put them to flight. Both 
parties claimed the victory: a famous Scotch song 
affirmed that both lost it; Mar, however, retreated north¬ 
ward, and Argyle had thus effected his purpose. 

In the last days of 1715, when in truth all was over, 
James landed at Peterhead. He established himself at 
Scone , the ancient capital of Scotland, and affected a cer¬ 
tain royal state. But he soon found how hopeless was the 
enterprise. Pale and sad, he was never seen to smile. 
He came almost like a ‘ shade ’ to the kingdom of his 
ancestors, so little real effect had his presence. Retreat¬ 
ing northwards at the end of January, James and Mar 
embarked at Montrose. Their followers immediately 
dispersed, and the rebellion was at an end . 9 

The South Sea Scheme, 1720.—Five years later, 
the country was agitated by an extraordinary spirit of 
commercial speculation. The chief enterprise is known as 
the South Sea Scheme or Bubble, and its results were so 
disastrous that a full account of it is necessary. 

By the Treaty of Utrecht , 10 Spain had conceded to 
England certain trading privileges. These the govern¬ 
ment gave as a monopoly to a company, on condition that 
they should take as capital ten millions of public debt. 
Thus, instead of having many creditors and paying 
high interest, the government would owe money only to 
this company, and that at moderate interest. It was 


A GERMAN KING UPON THE ENGLISH THRONE. 149 

afterwards proposed that the company should take over 
the whole debt, 11 which would form South Sea stock. 12 
The interest on this payable by the nation was only 
to be five, and afterwards four per cent.; 13 but the com¬ 
mercial advantages of the scheme would, it was thought, 
be so great that the shareholders were certain to receive 
enormous gains. Thus, it was hoped, that the national 
creditor would be quite willing to become a South Sea 
shareholder; for though there was less interest to receive 
from government, there were to be added to it the profits 
of the company. It seemed an ingenious commercial 
scheme by which every one concerned would become 
richer, and no one poorer. The ministers, the directors, 
and the public believed in it. In six days, two-thirds 
of the annuitants 14 had agreed to become shareholders 
in the company, and in five months the £100 share 
was selling at £ 1000. 

This was not all, for the whole country seemed to be 
animated by a feverish wish to make fortunes by specu¬ 
lating in shares. Accordingly, numberless companies, 
somewhat after the model of the South Sea Company, 
were started. There were companies “ For building of 
ships against pirates,” “ For importing a number of large 
jackasses from Spain,” “For a wheel for perpetual 
motion,” 15 and for other objects still more ridiculous. 
Change Alley was the chief centre of these enterprises, 
and here the activity was so great that tables were 
set up in the street. Distinctions of sex, or rank, or 
politics seemed forgotten by the eager crowd that pressed 
forward to traffic in shares. 

At the height of the excitement, the directors of 
the South Sea Company prosecuted some of its rivals. 
This caused people to reflect, and it was at once seen 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE L 


150 

how absurd many of the schemes were, and how impos¬ 
sible it was for the original company to pay a satisfac¬ 
tory dividend. Like the gold in the fairy tale, which 
suddenly became a heap of dried leaves, the wealth of 



“ Distinctions of sex, or rank, or politics, seemed forgotten by the 
eager crowd that pressed forward to traffic in shares.” 

thousands resolved itself all at once into a mass of 
worthless paper. 
























A GERMAN KING UPON THE ENGLISH THRONE. 151 


Absolute distrust now succeeded to universal credu¬ 
lity ; and the directors of the South Sea Company, who 
a few days before were courted as the givers of bound¬ 
less wealth, were now denounced as “ enemies of the 
people,” and their instant execution demanded. So 
great was the popular rage that, although these men 
had undoubtedly been themselves deceived, they were 
imprisoned and all their property confiscated. 

Rise of Walpole to Power.—The failure of the South 
Sea Company and its imitators had plunged thousands 
into poverty; a national crisis had arisen, and all agreed 
that one man was marked out by his financial genius 
to deliver the country. This was Sir Robert Walpole , a 
squire of Norfolk, who had been Secretary of War in the 
Whig Ministry 10 of Queen’s Anne’s reign, and Chancellor 
of the Exchequer in the first years of George I. He was 
at this time Paymaster of the Forces, but had not been 
a member o£ the ministiy when the South Sea Scheme 
was adopted, and had warned the House of Commons 
of the dangers of the delusive dream of wealth. 

Accordingly, he was called upon to provide a remedy 
for the wide-spread disorder. His plan was to assign the 
private property of the directors, two millions in amount, 
to the sufferers ; to remit the money due to government; 
and, after paying the lawful debts of the company, to 
divide its assets among the shareholders. As for those 
who were involved in the other companies, nothing 
could be done to relieve their distress. Walpole’s plan 
was successfully carried out; and he soon found himself 
at the head of affairs, and in possession of power which 
lasted more than twenty years. 17 

The new minister was a plain practical man of some¬ 
what coarse habits; but his financial abilities were of a 


152 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE I. 

very high order, and he had great skill in managing 
men—understanding thoroughly alike the temper of the 
House of Commons and of the English people. 

Of this rude, fox-hunting minister, a famous English 
satirist 18 gives us the following account: “ But for Sir 
Robert Walpole, we should have had the Pretender back 
again. But for his obstinate love of peace, we should 
have had wars, which the nation was not strong enough 
nor united enough to endure. But for his resolute 
counsels and good-humoured resistance, we might have 
had German despots attempting a Hanoverian regimen 
over us; we should have had revolt, commotion, want, 
and tyrannous misrule in place of a quarter of a century 
of peace, freedom, and material prosperity, such as the 
country never enjoyed.” 

During the rest of this reign, all was well managed. 
A turmoil in Ireland 19 was checked by a timely submis¬ 
sion ; while Walpole succeeded in imposing upon Scot¬ 
land an excise duty upon ale. In the midst of these 
somewhat commonplace quarrels and difficulties, the 
king died, on his way to Hanover, June 11, 1727. 

No finer summary of the importance of this reign can 
be given than in the words of the celebrated writer 
already referred to—words meriting the closest study. 

“ The days are over in England,” he says, “ of that 
strange religion of king-worship, when priests flattered 
princes in the temple of God; when servility was held to 
be ennobling duty; while beauty and youth tried eagerly 
for royal favours. Mended morals and mended man¬ 
ners in courts and people, are among the priceless con¬ 
sequences of the freedom which George I. came to rescue 
and secure. He kept his compact with his English sub¬ 
jects ; and if he escaped no more than other men and 


A GERMAN KING UPON THE ENGLISH THRONE. 153 


monarchs from the vices of his age, at least we may 
thank him for preserving and transmitting the liberties 
of ours. In our free air, royal and humble homes have 
alike been purified ; and Truth, the birthright of high 
and low among us, which quite fearlessly judges our 
greatest personages, can only speak of them now in 
words of respect and regard. There are stains in the 
portrait of the first George, and traits in it which none 
of us need admire; but, amongst the nobler features 
are justice, courage, moderation—and these we may re¬ 
cognise ere we turn the picture to the wall.” 


1. George I. reigned from 1714 to 1727. 

2. Residenz, here used as the German name for 

the palace of a prince. 

3. From Thackeray's * Four Georges.* 

4. Monarchical principle, maintaining *tlie 

Divine Right of Kings and giving abso¬ 
lute power to the sovereign. 

5. See Thackeray's * Four Georges.* 

6. Riot Act. This Act, passed in 1715, is still 

in force. It enacts that, "If any twelve 
persons are unlawfully assembled to the 
disturbance of the peace, and any Justice 
of the peace, sheriff, Ac., shall think pro¬ 
per to command them by proclamation to 
disperse, if they contemn his orders, and 
continue together for one hour afterwards, 
such contempt shall be felony, without 
benefit or clergy.** 

7. Mr. Forster, the Member of Parliament for 

Northumberland. 

8. Led by Generals Carpenter and Wills, who 

had united their forces. 

9. Two peers, Lords Derwentw’at er and Ken- 

mu re, were executed. Lord Nithsdale .and 
others escaped from prison—the former 
by the courage and devotion of his Coun¬ 
tess. Thirty persons of inferior rank 
were executed. To prevent the agitation 


arising from frequent elections, the Trien¬ 
nial Act was repealed, and a Septennial 
Act passed extending the duration of 
parliaments to seven years. 

10. Treaty of Utrecht, whi< h closed the War of 

the Spanish Succession in 1713. See p. 137. 

11. The whole debt, about £32,000, • MX). 

12. Stock, i.e., capital of the Comp my, and en¬ 

titled to share in the profit. 

13. Instead of 8 per cent., which the government 

had been paying. 

14. Annuitants, i.e., those receiving an annual 

payment from the government for money 
they had advanced to it. 

15. Wheel for perpetual motion, t.e„ a wheel 

to move continually without the aid of 
any motive force, such as steam. 

16. Whig Ministry, formed in 1708. See note 

28, page 143. 

17. He became First Lord of the Treasury (or, 

as we should say. Prime Minister) and 
Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

18. Thackeray. 

19. Turmoil in Ireland. It was about the intro. 

ductiou of a new copper coinage made by 
a patentee called William Wood. Wood s 
half-pence were opposed by the famous 
Swift in his Drapier Letters. 



AUTOGRAPH OF GEORGE I. 



154 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY-GEORGE II. 


THE MINISTRY OF WALPOLE. 1 



GEORGE II. 


CCESSION and Char¬ 
acter of George II. 2 — 
u On the afternoon of the 
14th of June, 1727, two 
horsemen might have been 
perceived galloping along 
the road from Chelsea to 
Richmond. The foremost, 
cased in the jackboots 3 of 
the period, was a broadfaced, 
jolly-looking, and very cor¬ 
pulent cavalier ; but, by the 
manner in which he urged 
his . horse, you might see that he was a bold as well as 
a skilful rider. 

“ He speedily reached Richmond Lodge, and asked 
to see the owner of the mansion. The mistress of the 
house and her ladies, to whom our friend was admitted, 
said he could not be introduced to the master, however 
pressing the business might be. The master was asleep 
after his dinner; he always slept after his dinner: and 
woe be to the person who interrupted him! Neverthe¬ 
less, our stout friend of the jackboots put the affrighted 
ladies aside, opened the forbidden door of the bedroom, 
wherein upon the bed lay a little gentleman, and here 
the eager messenger knelt down in his jackboots. 

“ He on the bed started up, and with many oaths 
and a strong German accent asked who was there, and 
who dared to disturb him ? 

“ ‘I am Sir Robert Walpole,’ said the messenger. 





THE MINISTRY OF WALPOLE. 


55 


The awakened sleeper hated Sir Robert Walpole. ‘ I 
have the honour to announce to your Majesty that your 
royal father, King George I., died at Osnaburg, 4 on 
Saturday last, the iotli inst.’ 

“ * Bat is one big lie ! 9 roared out his sacred Majesty, 
King George II.; but Sir Robert Walpole stated the 
fact, and from that day until three and thirty years 
after, George, the second of the name, ruled over Eng¬ 
land.” 

The new king was a hot-tempered man of small 
stature but brave heart, who had been long at enmity 
with his father, and had detested the prudent minister 
who had served that monarch so faithfully. But now, 
no doubt influenced by his clever and devoted wife, 5 he 
shrewdly reconciled himself to the bold minister who 
worked as wisely and devotedly for him as he had done 
for his predecessor—proving himself a courageous lover 
of peace and liberty, a true patriot, and great statesman. 

George II. was a sort of transition king; more of 
an Englishman than his father, but very much less so 
than his grandson and successor. He was now forty- 
four ; and, while being most methodical, was very 
greedy and narrow-minded. “ I do not believe,” says 
Lord Hervey, “ there ever lived a man to whose temper 
benevolence was so absolutely a stranger.” 6 

This king had no taste for literature or the fine 
arts, and cared little for English interests; for, as 
with his father, Hanover was first and England only 
second. One great merit he had ; he allowed himself 
to be guided by those whom he recognised as his supe¬ 
riors, and followed the counsels of his wise queen. 
This able princess gave Walpole a strong support; and 
constantly promoted men of learning in the Church and 


156 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE II. 

men of ability in the State, so that her influence was 
most beneficial both to her husband and the nation. 

Walpole’s Home Policy.—Walpole had undoubtedly 
learned the great lessons of the Revolution of 1688, 
and sought to preserve alike the Hanoverian succession 
and the liberty of the people. He saw clearly that 
England must keep clear of war so as to give her enemies 
no pretext for supporting the exiled House of Stuart; 
and that the best policy was to develop her industries 
and commerce, until Britain should become so strong 

that her united and pros¬ 
perous people would nei¬ 
ther desire a change of 
dynasty nor fear a foreign 
foe. 

His first important 
measure was a great 
financial improvement. 
Unfortunately it was a 
generation in advance of 
the age, 7 and he was com¬ 
pelled by overwhelming 
opposition to withdraw it. 
The plan was known as his 
c Excise Scheme ,’ and involved an important change in 
the mode of collecting the revenue. 

At that time, smuggling was very common, and thus 
the revenue suffered great loss. To prevent this whole¬ 
sale fraud, the great financier 8 proposed to collect the 
duties on wine and tobacco from the retailers, and not 
from the importers—to change, in other words, a customs 
into an excise duty. 9 This was only one part of his 
great scheme. He also proposed to establish large 








THE MINISTRY OF WALPOLE. 


157 


warehouses 10 in London, where merchants could store 
their goods without paying duty until such goods had 
actually been sold to their customers. This plan was 
admirably fitted to encourage foreign trade, especially 
as, if foreign goods were re-exported, no duty was to be 
paid on them. This would have made London a free 
port 11 for the whole of Europe, and have enormously 
increased its rapidly growing wealth. Further, the 
larger revenue, obtained without any addition to the 
national burden, would enable Walpole to reduce the land 
tax, and thus make the country gentlemen more loyal. 

The first part of this great scheme was bitterly 
opposed. A financial inquisition was, it was said, about 
to be set up; and an Englishman’s house would no 
longer be his castle, for the exciseman could enter it 
at any time. It was a plot, said the opposition, 12 to 
overthrow our ancient constitution and to establish in 
its place a baleful tyranny. In vain Walpole proved 
that these objections were void of truth ; but he soon 
saw that armed force would be necessary to carry out 
his plan. “ I will not be the minister,” he nobly said, 
“to enforce taxes at the price of blood.” He accord¬ 
ingly withdrew the measure, 13 thus recognising, that, in 
a constitutional government, to do good to the nation 
against its will is both impolitic and hurtful. 

Walpole’s skill was next successfully exerted to 
keep the nation from being involved in the general 
European war which began in a dispute about the suc¬ 
cession to the crown of Poland. 14 But though England 
was at peace, the peace-minister was not the stronger. 
Several oauses combined against him. The Prince of 
Wales 15 married in 1737, and his demand for an 
increased allowance embittered the quarrel, already of 


1 5 8 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORCxE TT. 

some standing, between him and the king. The friends 
of the Prince brought forward the matter in parlia¬ 
ment, and Walpole was obliged to oppose them. He 
did so successfully; but the heir to the throne became 
his bitter enemy and the centre of the opposition. The 
Queen died in the same year; and, as she had been his 
constant friend, it was thought that this would end his 
power; but his ruin came from another quarter. 

The Spanish War: Fall of Walpole.—For many 
years the trade with the Spanish Colonies of South 
America 16 had been a fruitful source of quarrels between 
England and Spain. By treaty the English were allowed 
to engage in the slave trade, and also to send one ship 
yearly; but it was impossible to restrain British mer¬ 
cantile enterprise within these narrow bounds. The 
annual ship became the centre of a fleet, which supplied 
it with a new cargo as fast as the old one was unloaded ; 
and there was, besides, a great deal of smuggling 
along the whole American coast. On the other hand, 
the right of search which the Spanish officers possessed 
was often tyrannically exercised ; stories of harsh injus¬ 
tice were frequent; and, when redress was demanded, 
the delays of the Spanish government seemed to show 
a determination to refuse justice. 

A final collision was inevitable. South America was 
then the gold-producing country of the world. The 
profits of its trade were very large ; and whilst the 
English were resolved to participate in them, the 
Spaniards were determined to keep them for themselves. 

Still Walpole strove hard to maintain peace. Although 
the king and his own colleagues were in favour of war, 
he was able to arrange a convention with Spain, 17 by 
which that country undertook to pay £g 5 ,000 in full of 



“Anson returned with only one ship out of the six which started.” 

a few months afterwards, rather than give up office, he 
yielded to the popular clamour and declared war. 18 


THE MINISTRY OF WALPOLE. 


all claims. This arrangement was very unpopular and 
was bitterly opposed in Parliament. Walpole was now 
accused of surrendering the honour of England; and 








i6o 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE II. 


For the succeeding two years Walpole struggled 
hard to maintain his place, but the war was on the 
whole unsuccessful. During it, however, Anson set out 
on a romantic voyage round the world. 19 He returned 
after an absence of four years with only one ship out 
of the six which started, but with a large amount of 
treasure. Admiral Vernon took Porto Bello, 20 but com¬ 
pletely failed before Cartagena. 21 

At length Walpole was finally forced to resign, 22 and 
retired from power with a large pension and the title 
of Earl of Orford. The most violent of his opponents 
clamoured for his impeachment and even his execution, 
but it was found that in the state of parties nothing 
effective could be done. Still his political ruin was 
complete, and his name does not again appear in history. 


1. Ministry of Walpole, lasted till 1742 ; it was 

in every respect a peace-ministry. 

2. George II., reigned from 1727 to 1760. His 

greatest ministers were Walpole and the 
elder Pitt. 

3. Jackboots, properly boots to be worn along 

with a jack or coat of mail; large boots 
reaching above the knee, to protect the 
legs. 

4. Osnaburg, near the river Ems, in the south 

of Hanover in North Germany. 

5. Caroline of Anspach—“ one of the truest and 

fondest wives ever prince was blessed with, 
and who loved him and was faithful to 
him, and he, in his coarse fashion, loved 
her to the last.” She died in 1737. 

6. From Lord Ilervey’s 4 Memoirs of the Reign 

of George II., from his Accession to the 
death of Queen Caroline (1727 to 1737).’ 

7. Walpole’s measure was introduced in 1733; 

its leading ideas were afterwards clearly 
taught by Adam Smith in his famous book, 
the Wealth of Nations, published in 1776. 

8. Financier, one skilled in administering the 

revenue of a state. 

9. Customs and Excise Duty. See note 5, p. 105. 

10. Warehouses, called bonded warehouses. 

11. A Free Port, t.e., one where trade could be 

carried on without the jmyment of customs 
duties. 

12. The Opposition, i.e., the party in Parliament 

—Whig or Tory, Liberal or Conservative, 
as the case may be—opposed to the ministry 
of the day. 


13. Although Walpole had submitted to the ex¬ 

ternal opposition which his Excise Bill had 
caused, he did not submit to the opposi¬ 
tion which certain members of his own 
cabinet had offered to the measure. All 
those, among whom Lord Chesterfield was 
the chief, were ignominiously expelled; 
and, as was to be expected, they at once 
joined the ranks of the continually increas¬ 
ing opposition. 

14. Crown of Poland. The king of Poland was 

elected by the great nobles of that country. 
On this occasion Augustus, son of the late 
king, obtained the throne; and a war of 
France and Spain against the Empire of 
Germany ensued. 

15. The Prince of Wales, Frederick, a worthless 

prince, the father of George III. 

16. Spanish Colonies of South America, prin¬ 

cipally in the West Indies, and on the 
northern shores of South America. 

17. 14th January 1739. 

18. 17th October 1739. 

19. Voyage round the World. Anson set sail in 

1740. He did not return till June 1744, 
two years after the fall of Walpole. 

20. Porto Bello, a strong port on the Atlantic 

side of the Isthmus of Panama. 

21. Cartagena, a fortified seaport in New Gra¬ 

nada, in South America, seventy miles 
south-west of the mouth of the river 
Magdalena. 

22. Walpole resigned in 1742, having been In 

power for nearly twenty-two years. 




THE LAST JACOBITE RISING. 


161 


THE LAST JACOBITE RISING. 



PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD. 


HE European War which 
led to the Rising*.—After 
the fall of Walpole, the 
dangers against which 
that statesman had so 
carefully guarded began to 
threaten both the country 
and the throne. The con¬ 
flict with Spain proved 
the beginning of a great 
European war, which, in 
its turn, was the prelude 
to a dangerous Jacobite 
rising. In the first of 
these, England aided Austria against the united forces 
of France, Spain, and Prussia. These three powers 
sought to overturn the Decree 1 by which the Emperor 
Charles VI. of Germany had bequeathed his hereditary 
dominions 2 to his daughter, Maria Theresa. 

England steadily supported 3 Austria, and sent an 
army to the continent. The two chief battles in which 
the English were concerned were Dettingen 4 and Fon - 
tcnoy. 5 In the first of these George commanded in 
person, and his bravery did much to secure the victory 
for the English. This was the last battle in which an 
English king appeared on the field, and never had the 
part of personal leader been better sustained. At 
Fontenoy, Marshal Saxe defeated the Duke of Cumber¬ 
land, but the battle brought no advantage to the victors. 
The war was closed by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 6 by 
which the rights of Maria Theresa were admitted. 

«> L 


i 62 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE II. 


In this war, England once more began to show that 
naval superiority which had rendered her so renowned 
under the Commonwealth. The two great victories of 
Cape Finisterre and Belleisle, 7 in both of which the French 
fleet was totally defeated, pointed onwards to the still 
greater triumphs of the following reign. 

The enemies of the country naturally sought to 
weaken the strength of her arms abroad by exciting a 
rebellion at home; and thus, as Walpole had predicted, 
the entrance of England into a European war was the 
cause of a great rising in favour of the exiled Stuarts. 

‘The Young Chevalier.’ 8 —On the 25th July, 1745, 
Prince Charles Edward Stuart, grandson of James II., 
and often called the ‘ Young Pretender,’ landed on the 
coast of the West Highlands with seven companions, 9 
and began a movement which shook the Hanoverian 
dynasty. The Young Chevalier came like a hero of 
romance to “ claim,” as he said, “ the crown of his 
ancestors, or perish in the attempt.” 

The Highland chiefs urged him to defer his project, 
but he was not to be persuaded. By passionate en¬ 
treaties and bitter complainings, he moved the hearts 
and roused the pride of the chieftains; and in less than 
a month, the Stuart standard was solemnly hoisted at 
Glenfinnan. 10 The Jacobites had already gained their 
first success in a slight skirmish. 11 Charles saw his 
attempt fairly started, and with a rapidly increasing 
army he crossed the Firth of Forth and captured 
Edinburgh. There was hardly a show of resistance; 
the populace crowded round his horse, and many wept 
for joy. Holyrood, 12 so long deserted, became again a 
royal palace; and the gallant bearing and youthful 
enthusiasm of Charles were made all the more striking 
by the faded splendour that surrounded him. 


THE LAST JACOBITE RISING. 


1 63 



HOISTING THK STANDARD, 


































































164 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE II. 

A distinguished historian has thus described this 
prince: 11 View him in his later years, and we behold 
the ruins of intemperance—his understanding debased, 
and his temper soured. But not such was the Charles 
Stuart of 1745- Not such was the gallant Prince full 
of youth, of hope, of courage, who, landing with seven 
men in the wilds of Moidart, could rally a kingdom 



HOLYROOD PALACE. 


round his banner, and scatter his foes before him at 
Preston and Falkirk. Not such was the gay and courtly 
host of Holyrood. Not such was he, whose endurance 
of fatigue and eagerness for battle shone pre-eminent, 
even amongst Highland chiefs ; while fairer critics s pro¬ 
claimed him the most winning in conversation, the most 
graceful in the dance ! ” 14 

A Career of Victory. —The royal forces in Scotland 
were at this time under the command of a plain, dull 
man, Sir John Cope—a general quite unable to encounter 
such foes as the Highlanders. It never entered the 
head of Sir John that the Prince would dare to march 
southward; and, accordingly, he sought to cut off all 
chance of retreat northwards by marching towards Inver¬ 
ness. When he found out his mistake, he was forced to 
gail southwards, and landed fit J)unbar on the very day 



THE LAST JACOBITE RISING. 


165 


that Charles entered Edinburgh . 15 He thus held the 
eastern road to England, and a battle was inevitable. 

The two armies met a few miles from Edinburgh, 
near Prestonpans , 16 one of those fishing villages that dot 
the edge of the Firth of Forth. Cope had taken up a 
strong position—having a morass in front, his cavalry on 
each Hank, and the sea behind him. On the other side 



EDINBURGH. 


of the marsh lay the Highland army, with its back to 
the hills. During the night a path across the morass 
was discovered by the eager Highlanders, and they 
passed over in the faint light of a misty morning. 
Cope soon discovered their new position, and made 
preparations to receive them. He had not long to 
wait. The order to charge was given, the pipers 
repeated the signal, and the slogan 11 of the clans 
pealed forth as the Highlanders rushed on the foe. 
The dragoons did not wait for their charge, but fled at 
once; some of the artillerymen were cut down at their 
guns, others saved their lives by flight; the infantry 
alone made some attempt at resistance, but their line 
was broken through in several places, and they too fled. 
In five minutes the battle was over; and when Sir 
John appeared two days afterwards in Berwick with a 








166 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY— GkORGE II. 

few horsemen, he was sarcastically complimented “ on 
being the first general on record who had carried the 
news of his own defeat.” 

Scotland was now won, and had Prince Charles been 
able to march at once on London, England might like¬ 
wise have been gained. But this was impossible. A 
large number of his soldiers had gone home to deposit 
their plunder in safety, and he was* obliged to wait for 
their return. Accordingly, it was not till the 8 th of 
November, that he entered England; and, by that 
time, three armies had gathered to oppose him. One, 
under Marshal Wade, was in the north of England ; a 
second, under the Duke of Cumberland, lay in the Midland 
Counties ; while a third, chiefly composed of the London 
train-bands, guarded the metropolis. Notwithstanding 
this, Charles crossed the border, took Carlisle , evaded 
the English armies, and marched unopposed to Derby , 
within 130 miles of the capital. 

Had he pushed on, it seems certain that London 
would have fallen, for the army that guarded it was 
the weakest of the three. The chiefs, however, pointed 
out that the English Jacobites had not joined them, 
that they were but 5000, while their enemies numbered 
30,000, and that their retreat might be cut off. Accord¬ 
ingly, they forced Charles, though much against his 
will, to return. 18 

The march back was rapid ; and, after a few days’ 
halt at Glasgow, Charles proceeded to besiege the Castle 
of Stirling. General Hawley marched to relieve it; and 
the two armies met at Falkirk™ in the midst of a storm, 
which blew right in the faces of the English soldiers. 
The charge of the Highlanders was again successful, 
though a small party withstood it and were able to cover 


THE LAST JACOBITE RISING. 167 

the retreat of the royal army. The Duke of Cumber¬ 
land 20 —a brave and able, though cruel general—now 
took the command, and marched northwards after Charles, 
who had fallen back on Inverness. 

The Battle of Culloden: Wanderings of Prince 
Charlie.—The last battle of the insurrection was fought 
on the barren Culloden Moor. 21 The Highlanders had 
intended to make a night attack, but the day was break¬ 
ing before they reached the enemy’s outposts. They 
were therefore obliged to fall back to the moor, whither 
their pursuers followed them. The Duke of Cumber¬ 
land had drawn up his army in three lines, interspersed 
with cannon. 

The combat began with some firing, by which the 
rebels suffered greatly. At last they received the order 
to charge; and, tired as they were, they yet advanced 
with such force that they broke the first line and cap¬ 
tured some cannon. But they were then received with 
a volley from the second line; and, while they were 
still in disorder, the enemy charged. The Highlanders 
paused, then fled, and the battle was over. 

The prince was hurried away by some friends, and 
the cause of the House of Stuart was lost for ever. 
There was no other attempt at armed resistance, and 
nothing now remained but to take vengeance on the 
defeated rebels. This was done so cruelly that Cumber¬ 
land received ever afterwards the name of ‘ The Butcher.’ 

Charles wandered for five months in the Highlands. 
A price of ^30,000 was set on his head ; but though this 
represented incalculable wealth to the poor inhabitants 
of these desolate regions, no one was found to betray 
him. He had many romantic adventures, but at last 
escaped to France. By a strange coincidence he left 


168 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE II. 

Scotland at the very place where he had landed " four¬ 
teen months before. 

Effects of the Rising*.—Thus ended the ’45, and 
with it Jacobitism, which now became but a sentiment. 
The Hanoverian succession was henceforth secure ; no 
further attempt was made against it. The hereditary 
jurisdiction of the chiefs was now destroyed, and many 
measures were taken to assimilate the Highlands to 
the rest of Britain. These were successful; and thus 
the ultimate results of the last Stuart rising were 
not unfavourable even to the northern portion of the 
kingdom. From this period the prosperity of modern 
Scotland may be said to date. The spirit-stirring Jaco¬ 
bite songs and tales of the rising have thrown a halo of 
romance round the ’45 ; and it may truly be asserted 
that the simple narrative of the facts presents incidents 
as remarkable as any fabled in song or story. 


1. /.e., the Imperial Decree, called 1 lie Prat 7 - 

matic Sanction, — the special or official 
decree issued by the Emperor. 

2. Hereditary Dominions. The Emperor of 

Germany had always to be chosen by the 
various ‘electors;’ but Charles VI. was 
also ruler of Austria, and it was his here¬ 
ditary dominions alone that he wished to 
secure to his daughter. 

3. The war cost England £54,000,000. 

4. Dettingen, a small village in Bavaria, on 

the Main, south-east of Frankfort-on-the- 
Main. The battle was fought in 1743. 

6 . Fontenoy, a village in Belgium close to the 
French frontier, five miles south-east of 
Tournay. The battle took place in 1745. 

6 . Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, made in 1748. 

The town of Aix-la-Chapelle is in Rhenish 
Prussia near the Belgian frontier. 

7. Cape Finisterre and Belleisle, both fought 

in 1747. The former, in the north-west of 
Spain, was won by Anson; the latter, in 
the north-west of France, by Hawke. 

8 . The Young Chevalier, the name given 

to Prince Charles Edward. 

9. Seven Companions, known as the 'Seven 

Men of Moidart,' from the Bock of that 
name on the west coast of Inverness-shire 
where he landed. 

10. Glenhnnan, north-west of Loch Moidart, 


crossing from Argylesliire to Inverness- 
shire. The Standard was raised on August 
19th, 1745. 

11. They had captured two companies sent from 

Fort Augustus to strengthen the garrison 
at Fort William. 

12. Holyrood, in Edinburgh, the ancient royal 

palace of Scotland. 

13. The favourite name of this prince in 

Scotland to this day is ' Bonnie Prince 
Charlie .’ 

14. From Lord Mahon’s (afterwards, Earl Stan¬ 

hope) History of England from the Peace 
of Utrecht to the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle 
(1713-1783)—a work deservedly praised by 
Thackeray. 

15. 17tli September 1745. 

1G. Prestonpans. The battle was fought on 
September 21st, 1715. 

17. Slogan, literally * an army-cry,' the war-cry 

of the old Highlanders of Scotland. 

18. The retreat from Derby was begun on the 

6 th of December 1745. 

19. Falkirk, in the east of Stirlingshire. The 

battle was fought January 17th, 1746. 

20. Duke of Cumberland, the second son of 

George II. 

21. Culloden Moor, in the west of Nairnshire, 12 

miles east of Inverness. 

22. He left on 20 tli September 1746. 






CHARLES EDWARD AT VERSAILLES. 


169 


CHARLES EDWARD AT VERSAILLES 1 ON THE 
ANNIVERSARY OF CULLODEN. 

r PAKE away that star and garter—hidethemfrom my aching sight; 
^ Neither king nor prince shall tempt me from my lonely room 
this night. 

Let the shadows gather round me while I sit in silence here, 
Broken-hearted, as an orphan walking by his father’s bier. 

Let me hold my still communion far from every earthly sound— 
Day of penance—day of passion 2 —ever, as the year comes round : 
Fatal day ! wherein the latest die was cast for me and mine— 
Cruel day ! that quelled the fortunes of the hapless Stuart line. 

Phantom-like, as in a mirror, rise the grisly scenes of death— 
There, before me, in its wildness, stretches bare Culloden’s heatb. 
There the broken clans are scattered, gaunt as wolves, and famine¬ 
eyed, 

Hunger gnawing at their vitals, hope abandoned, all but pride. 
There they stand, the battered columns, underneath the murky 
sk.y, 

In the.hush of desperation, not to conquer, but to die. 

Hark the bagpipe’s fitful wailing: not the pibroch 3 loud and shrill, 
That with hope of bloody banquet, lured the ravens from the hill,— 
But a dirge both low and solemn, fit for ears of dying men, 
Marshalled for their latest battle, never more to fight again. 

Madness—madness ! Why this shrinking ? Were we less inured 
to war 

When our reapers swept the harvest from the field of red Dunbar ? 4 
Bring my horse, and blow; the trumpet! Call the riders of Fitz- 
Jaines ! 

Let Lord Lewis head the column ! valiant chiefs of mighty names— 
Trusty Keppoch ! stout Glengarry ! gallant Gordon ! wise Lochiel! 6 
Bid the clansmen hold together, fast and fell, and firm as steel. 
Elcho ! never look so gloomy ; what avails a saddened brow ? 
Heart, man ! heart !—we need it sorely, never half so much as now. 
Had we but a thousand troopers, had we but a thousand more ! 
Noble Perth, I hear them coming!—Hark the English cannon’s roar. 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE II. 


170 

Ah, how awful sounds that volley, bellowing through the mist and 
rain ! 

Was not that the Highland slogan ? 1 2 3 4 5 6 Let me hear that shout again ! 
Oh, for prophet eyes to witness how the desperate battle goes ! 
Cumberland ! I would not fear thee, could my Camerons see their 
foes. 

Sound, I say, the charge at venture—’tis not naked steel we fear : 
Better perish in the melee 7 than be shot like driven deer . 8 
Hold ! the mist begins to scatter ! there in front Tis rent asunder, 
And the cloudy bastion 9 crumbles underneath the deafening thunder, 
Chief and vassal, lord and yeoman, there they lie in heaps together. 
Smitten by the deadly volley, rolled in blood upon the heather. 
And the Hanoverian horsemen fiercely riding to and fro, 

Deal their murderous strokes at random—Woe is me ! Where am 
I now ? 10 

Will that baleful vision never vanish from my aching sight? 

Must those scenes and sounds of terror haunt me still by day and 
night ? 

Yes, the earth hath no oblivion for the noblest chance it gave, 
None, save in its latest refuge—seek it only in the grave ! 

Love may die, and hatred slumber, and their memory will decay, 
As the watered garden recks not of the drought of yesterday ; 

But the dream of power once broken, what shall give repose again ? 
What shall chain the serpent-furies 11 coiled around the maddening 
brain ? 

What kind draught can Nature offer strong enough to lull their 
sting ? 

Better to be born a peasant than to live an exiled king ! 

Aytoun . 12 


1. Versailles, a palace near Paris. 

2. Passion, here used in its original sense of 

‘ suffering.’ 

3. Pibroch, literally 'pipe-music,' the martial 

music of the Scottish bagpipe. 

4. Dunbar. The poet refers to the battle of 

Preston pans. It was at Dunbar that Sir 
John Cope landed, four days before the 
battle. 

5. These are the names of famous Highland 

Chiefs. 

6. Slogan, see note 17, p. 168. 

7. Affilee, a fight in which the combatants are 

all mixed together. 

8. Driven deer, i.e., deer driven by the beaters 

towards some appointed spot where the 


sportsmen or hunters are ready to shoot 
them down. 

9. Cloudy Bastion, i.e., the dense masses of 
mist, like towers in the sky. 

10. The poet pictures the prince as carried away 

by the memory of the dreadful scene of 
slaughter. He then comes to himself; 
and, finding himself in his lonely room, he 
cries, ‘Woe is me ! where am I now?’ 

11. Serpent-furies. The Greeks, and after them 

the Latins, believed that there were three 
goddesses of vengeance called the Furies. 
They pictured them as having wreaths of 
snakes on their heads instead of hair. 

12. Aytoun, see note 7, p. 73. From his ‘ Lays 

of the Scottish Cavaliers.' 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE ELDER riTT. 171 


THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE ELDER PITT. 



ISE and Character of Pitt. 
—William Pitt, one of 
the greatest ministers that 
ever directed the fortunes 
of his country, was born 
in the year 1708. 1 He 
was educated at Eton and 
Oxford; and, after a short 
service in the army as 
a cornet in the Blues, 
he entered Parliament in 
1735. There he at once 
william pitt. joined the opposition to 

Walpole, and his powers as an orator were first shown in 
a speech condemning the convention that minister had 
made with Spain. 2 Throughout the whole of his early 
parliamentary career he acted as an English patriot, 
insisting that the blood and treasure of the nation 
should not be wasted in support of the German princi¬ 
pality of Hanover. He thus earned the bitter hostility 
of the king; but, in spite of this, he forced his way 
upwards—until, in 1757, he became Chief Secretary of 
State, with the management of Foreign affairs. 3 

No more striking portrait has been handed down 
of any historical character than that afterwards drawn 
of this great statesman by one of the most brilliant 
orators 4 of the next reign. “ His august mind overawed 
majesty; 5 and one of his sovereigns thought royalty so 
impaired in his presence, that he conspired to remove 
him, in order to be relieved from his superiority. 6 No 





172 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE II. 

state chicanery, 7 no narrow system of vicious politics, 
sunk him to the vulgar level of the great; but, over¬ 
bearing, persuasive, and impracticable, his object was 
England, his ambition was fame. France sunk beneath 
him. With one hand he smote the House of Bourbon, 8 
and wielded in the other the Democracy of England. 9 
His schemes were to affect, not England, not the pre¬ 
sent age only, but Europe and posterity.” 

Such was the marvellous genius who was now to 
direct the foreign affairs of England. 

The Seven Years’ War. 10 —The peace of Aix-la- 
Chapelle 11 had been concluded, not because the com¬ 
batants had come to any real agreement, but because 
they required rest before recommencing the struggle. 
France and England had been since then nominally at 
peace; but in India they were engaged in a series of 
intrigues with the native powers against each other, 
whilst in America a colonial war between the two nations 
had arisen. Before war was formally declared, the French 
took Minorca. 12 The loss of the island so deeply wounded 
the national pride that the British commander, Admiral 
Byng, was brought to trial and shot, although Pitt made 
strenuous efforts to save him and the very court- 
martial that condemned him had unanimously recom¬ 
mended him to mercy. 

At first the war did not go well; England suffered 
defeat both on the coast of France and in America, 
whilst her allies were beaten on the continent. 

These reverses were suffered before Pitt’s influence 
had made itself fully felt; but he soon introduced 
a new element both into political life and into all 
departments of the public service. Acting on a 
principle the reverse of Walpole’s, he constantly 

a 


THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE ELDER FITT. 173 

appealed to the higher motives which influence human 
nature, declining the emoluments of the offices which 
he held and refusing to have anything to do with the 
disposal of government patronage. 

Pitt’s soaring ambition led him to turn away from the 
humble but useful details of domestic legislation to the 
wider theatre of foreign affairs. It was in the direction 
of great armaments in every part of the world, in the for¬ 
mation of great confederacies, in the planning of strik¬ 
ing expeditions, that lie was most at home. He was 
emphatically a war-minister, and the whole service was 
animated with his spirit. 

At no time do the annals of England present so many 
cases of splendid daring, and the early misadventures of 
the war were soon succeeded by brilliant successes. Ex¬ 
peditions to Cherbourg 13 and St. Malo 14 damaged the 
French arsenals, the victories of Lagos lb and Quiberon 16 
destroyed their fleet. In America, Quebec was cap¬ 
tured and Canada became an English province; while, 
in the east , the broad foundations of an Anglo-Indian 
empire were laid by Clive. Victory succeeded victory 
so regularly that a wit of the time 17 said it was neces¬ 
sary to ask each morning what new conquest there was, 
as there was danger that you would lose the reckoning. 

India and Clive.—Of all these successes, the most 
important in their results to England were the vic¬ 
tories of Clive in India, and the capture of Quebec by 
Wolfe. 

Of the former of these triumphs, but a word can be 
said here. The question to be decided there was whether 
India was to be under the rule of France or to become 
a province of Britain ; and it was the genius of Robert 
Clive which decided that the destinies of the mighty 


174 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE II. 



Asiatic peninsula were to be thenceforward guided by 
England. His first victory was that of Arcot ; 1S after 

which his capture of the 
Fort of St. David , near 
Madras, gave Britain the 
entire command of the 
east coast of India. 19 But 
the battle which really 
secured for Britain the 
Empire of India was that 
of Plassey. 20 In this mo¬ 
mentous encounter, Clive, 
with a force of three 
thousand 21 men, totally 
defeated an enormous 
clive. Indian army of sixty 

thousand, under the notorious Surajah Dowlah, the cruel 
Nabob 22 of Bengal, and thus obtained possession of the 
entire north-east of Hindostan. 

Wolfe and Quebec.—Not less remarkable was the 
heroic achievement of the gallant Wolfe. Pitt had 
formed a daring scheme to subdue Canada,—a scheme 
so bold that only its success justified it. Three armies 
were to reach the St. Lawrence by different routes, and 
converge on Quebec, which stands on that river about 
a hundred leagues from its mouth. Here the stream 
narrows considerably, and is about a mile broad. 

The army under Wolfe was the only one that arrived 
before the fortress; and j ust before the battle it was 
posted on the south side of the river, opposite to and 
a little above the town, which was defended by 
a French army under the Marquis de Montcalm. 
The Heights of Abraham, believed to be inaccessible, 












THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE ELDER PITT. 175 

rose from the water above the town, and Wolfe con¬ 
ceived the idea of scaling the precipice and forcing 
the enemy to give battle 
on equal terms. Accord¬ 
ingly, at one o’clock in 
the morning, 23 the expe¬ 
dition embarked. The 
night was dark and the 
ebbing tide carried the 
boats silently down the 
river to the spot on the 
Quebec bank afterwards 
known as Wolfe’s Cove. 

Here the brave band 
landed, and scrambled up 
the cliffs by a road so 
narrow that sometimes only one was able to pass at 
once. The top was at last reached ; and the boats rowed 
back for the rest of the army, who also succeeded in 
crossing. 

When the day broke, the British had secured posses¬ 
sion of the Heights; but long ere this, the French 
had discovered them (though too late to arrest their 
progress); and, advancing to give battle, were 
received with a close and deadly fire. As they 
swerved, Wolfe, who, though wounded, still held the 
command, ordered a charge. The enemy gave way, 
but Wolfe was carried dying to the rear. His last 
request was to know how the battle went, and his 
last words were words of gladness for the victory. The 
fate, though not the fortune, of the French leader was 
like that of his opponent. He was mortally wounded 
in the engagement, and died the day after the battle. 




176 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE II. 


“ So much the better,” he said, when told of his 
approaching death; “ then I shall not live to see the 
surrender of Quebec.” Four days later the town sur¬ 
rendered. A monument was afterwards raised to com¬ 
memorate the capture, and on it were inscribed the 
names of Wolfe and Montcalm. 

Such were the men and the scenes that made the 
administration of Pitt so illustrious, and rendered the 
last years of George II. so noteworthy in our annals. 
That king died on the 25th October, 1760, and the 
accession of his successor again made a new period in 
English historv. 


1. At Boconnoc, in Cornwall. 

2. Convention with Spain. See p. 158. 

3. The Duke of Newcastle was First Lor/i of the 

Treasury, and the elder Fox Paymaster of 
the Forces; but the leading spirit of the 
ministry was Pitt. 

4. The famous Henry Grattan (1750-1820), the 

eloquent leader of the Irish national party, 
a vehement opposer of the union of the 
English and Irish Parliaments, and the 
unwearied champion of Catholic emanci¬ 
pation. 

5. Overawed majesty, i.e. t forced the king, 

in spite of his dislike, to consent to his 
measures. 

C. This might have been said of both George II. 
and George III. 

7. Chicanery, trickery or artifice. 

8. House of Bourbon, the royal family of France 

since the time of the famous Henry of 
Navarre (1576); it succeeded the House of 
Valois. 

9. The Democracy of England, i.e. t the masses 

of the people, who enthusiastically sup¬ 
ported Pitt. 

10. Seven Years' War, 1756-17C3, extended into 

the next reign. 

11. See page 164. 

12. Minorca was taken by the French in 1756. 

The island had been left in the hands of 
Britain by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. 

13. Cherbourg, near Cape La Hogue, in the north 

of France, destroyed by General Bligh and 
Commodore Hawke in 1758. 


14. St. Malo, attacked in the same year and by 

the same leaders as Cherbourg, but was 
too strong to be destroyed. 

15. Lagos, a port and cape in the south of Portu¬ 

gal. The victory was won in 1759— a year 
full of glory . 

16. Quiberon, in the north-west of France. This 

victory was also gained in 1759. 

17. A wit of the time, Horace Walpole. II© 

lived from 1717-1797, and his chief work is 
his ‘ Memoirs of the Court of George II.* 

18. Arcot, 64 miles south-west of Madras, taken 

in 1746. 

19. I.e. t of the district called the Carnatic, a 

division of India about 90 miles broad, 
lying along the east coast. 

20. Plassey, a village in Bengal, on a branch of 

the Hooghly, above Calcutta. The battle 
took place on June 23, 1757. 

21. Of which 800 only were British. 

22. Nabob, a deputy or governor of a province 

under the Mogul Empire of India. By his 
victory, Clive punished the tyrant Surajah 
Dowlah for the cruel massacre known as 
the Black Hole of Calcutta. In the year 
1756, the nabob had ordered 146 English 
prisoners to be crushed into a cell 20 feet 
square, with only two small apertures for 
air. One hundred and twenty-three of th© 
miserable victims perished during the 
night. 

23. 13tli September 1759. 



A TRULY ENGLISH KING. 


*77 


A TRULY ENGLISH KING. 


TABLE SHOWING THE GENEALOGY OF THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. 


George I.=Sophia of Brunswick. 

I 


George II. 


'I 


Sophia=Frederick William 
I of Prussia. 


Frederick the Great. 
George III.=Sophla Charlotte of Mecklenberg-Strelltz. 


Frederick=Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. 
(d. 1751). I 


1 

George IV. 

1 

Frederick, 

1 1 

William IV. Edward, 

1 

Ernest, 

1 1 

Augustus, Adolphus, 

—Caroline of 

Duke of York 

Duke of Kent 

King of 

Duke of Duke of 

Brunswick. 

(died 1827). 

^Victoria of 

Hanover 

Sussex Cambridge. 

1 

Charlotte 

Saxe-Coburg. 

Charlotte Elizabeth. 

(d. 1851). 

(d. 1843). 

1 1 1 

(died 1817). 


QUEEN VICTOBIA. George. Sophia. Amelia. 



HARACTER and Acces¬ 
sion of George III.—The 
new king was thoroughly 
English in tastes and sym¬ 
pathies. Unlike the two 
preceding monarchs, who 
had been obliged to leave 
everything to their minis¬ 
ters, George III. was deter¬ 
mined to direct the govern¬ 
ment himself, and thus a 
knowledge of his personal 
geokge in. character is essential to a 

right understanding of the history of the period. 

The virtues of this prince were of the decorous and 
domestic kind. He was simple, pious, and brave, fond 
of a country life, and devoted to farming pursuits. 

M 


( 4 ) 




















I 7 S 


THE HOUSE OF HANOVEE—GEOEGE III. 


Accordingly the court was thoroughly reformed; and 
the royal household became a model to every family in 
the kingdom. Such virtues appealed to the great mass 
of Englishmen, and made 1 Farmer George ’ (as he was 
called) the most popular man in the kingdom; while the 
knowledge of his quiet domestic happiness, his simple 
piety, and his God-fearing humility of heart, was of in¬ 
calculable benefit in elevating the morals and purifying 
the life of the whole nation. 

As he was determined to f be a king/ 1 he preferred 
ministers who would simply carry out his wishes; and 
accordingly he had a habitual dread of men of marked 
ability, while his obstinacy was so great that there seems 
to have been something in it of the madness which for so 
long a period of his reign doomed him to a living death. 2 
But in spite of his limited understanding, he always 
strove, with a courage which nothing could dismay, to 
clo what he thought to ~be right; unfortunately, he could 
not understand how people could differ from him and 
yet be as righteous and noble as himself. It was this 
narrow and bigoted confidence in his own opinion that 
led to the revolt of the American colonies, and brought 
bitter humiliation upon the mother-country. 

Policy of the King : Close of the Seven Years’ War. 
—The king’s first object was naturally to get a subser¬ 
vient ministry; and he wished above all to introduce 
into the Cabinet Lord Bute, the favourite of the Princess 
Dowager, and with whom he was in thorough accord. 
Accordingly, with the help of Pitt’s colleagues, who had 
been alienated by that great leader’s imperiousness of 
will, Bute was made a Secretary of State, 3 and enabled 
virtually to direct the policy of the government. 

The aim of the favourite was to terminate the war 

a 


A TRULY ENGLISH KING. 


179 


and dismiss the minister who had brought such glory 
to the name of England. The arguments in favour 
of the first of these measures were strong. Great 
and glorious as that war had been, it was yet costly and 
dangerous. The country was heavily burdened, and the 
national debt was rapidly increasing. 4 The glory of 
to-day was thus the burden of to-morrow. 

Meanwhile France and Spain had entered into an 
alliance ; 5 and the latter country was only waiting to get 
the treasure ships from America safe into port before 
joining in the conflict. Pitt wisely urged his colleagues 
to declare war against her at once ; but they refused, and 
accordingly he resigned. 6 

Bute was now supreme in the Cabinet; but the year 
was hardly over before, as Pitt had predicted, he was 
obliged to declare war against Spain. Happily, although 
the great war-minister was gone, his generals remained, 
and the spirit with which he had inspired them was still 
active. Expeditions against Martinique, 7 Havannah, 8 
and the Philippine Islands, 9 were all successful; and 
France again became eager for peace. Bute was not 
less eager, and the seven years’ war was concluded by 
the Peace of Paris. 10 

England was a great gainer by this treaty; she was 
henceforth to possess North America and a number of 
the West India Islands which she had taken; while the 
French gave up Minorca in exchange for Belleisle, and 
renounced their military establishments in India. 

Bute soon afterwards resigned, for there were many 
things which made his position uncomfortable. Person¬ 
ally, he was inclined to a studious life; was incompetent 
to control the destinies of a mighty empire; and was 
hated as few men in England have ever been hated. 


180 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE III. 


Parliamentary Struggle : John Wilkes. —The sum¬ 
mer of 1763 is remarkable for the beginning of a 
curious and prolonged constitutional struggle, which is 
of great importance in the history of parliamentary 
government. This was the case of John Wilkes, M.P. 
for Aylesbury. This man had a paper called the North 
Briton , in which he had heaped unmeasured abuse upon 
the hated Bute. Not content with this, he had in one 
number 11 attacked the king himself—declaring that he 
had uttered a lie in his speech from the throne at the 
prorogation of Parliament. The authorities then pro¬ 
ceeded against the paper, first, by the issue of a general 
warranty in which no special individuals were men¬ 
tioned ; and under it Wilkes was seized, along with 
forty-eight others. He resisted, and the matter was at 
once brought before the law courts, where it was declared 
that such general warrants were illegal . 12 

The House of Commons foolishly did not let the 
matter rest here ; but, full of rather noisy loyalty, de¬ 
clared that what Wilkes had written was a false and 
seditious libel. They also expelled him from the House , 
and decided that privilege 13 was no protection from 
punishment for publishing such articles. 

Five years afterwards, Wilkes was chosen member 
for Middlesex, 14 after an election of indescribable fury, 
in which ‘ Wilkes and Liberty ’ were the popular watch¬ 
words. The honoured number ‘ 4 5 ’ 15 was written on 
every house, and London was illuminated for two nights 
at the command of the mob. The populace espoused 
the cause of Wilkes as a protest against parliamen¬ 
tary corruption , a sham representation , 16 and acts really 
despotic committed in the name of liberty. The ministers 
would now have yielded and allowed Wilkes to take 


A TRULY ENGLISH KING. 1B1 

his seat, but the king determined with his usual obsti¬ 
nacy that the battle should be fought out, and Wilkes 
was sentenced to twenty-two months’ imprisonment. 

From his prison he did everything he could to excite 
the mob. His last offence had been followed by a riot 
in which blood had been spilt, and he charged the 
ministry with “ having deliberately planned the horrid 
massacre of St. George’s Fields.” The House con¬ 



sidered this, and again expelled him. A fortnight later 
he was re-elected, and next day declared incapable of 
sitting in that Parliament. But the country was as 
determined as Parliament; and, on March 16, Wilkes 
was re-elected, no one coming forward to second his 
opponent. Next day the House declared the election 
void. 17 At the subsequent election, Colonel Luttrell was 










182 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE III. 


brought forward to oppose him. It was considered that 
this gentleman was very daring in doing so, but he got 
nearly one-fourth of the votes, and Parliament declared 
that he was the member. In the end, the country 
triumphed, for four years later Wilkes was once more 
elected for Middlesex, and allowed to take his seat with¬ 
out opposition. Eight years afterwards, the House of 
Commons expunged the orders regarding his elections 
from their journals, and thus admitted themselves in 
the wrong in this great constitutional controversy. 

The struggle on behalf of Wilkes showed the power 
of popular agitation. A great impetus was also given 
to the two other important questions. One was the 
demand for Parliamentary reform, which was checked 
by the outbreak of the French revolution ; the other 
was the claim that the press should be allowed to report 
the debates of the House of Commons. This last point 
was carried first; and, the weight of public opinion being 
thus brought to bear with increasing force on the House, 
bribery became a thing of the past. 


1. ' To be a king.’ Tlie last words of his 

mother to him, on the night before her 
death, were, * George, be a king !' 

2. In his later years, George was subject to 

attacks of insanity. The country was 
governed after 1810 by his son as Regent. 
The extract is from Thackeray's ‘ George 
the Third.’ 

3. This took place in March 1761. Lord Holder- 

li ess resigned to make room for the 
favourite. 

4. The National Debt. Up to this time the 

national debt had increased as follows:— 
(1.) At Anne’s accession it had amounted 
to £14,000,000. (2.) After Marlborough's 

wars (1714) it had become £54,000,000. (3.) 
At the close of the Seven Years’ War (1763) 
it was £139,000,000. 

5 . France and Spain. This alliance was called 

the Family Compact, for the royal families 
of France and Spain were of the same 
Bourbon dynasty. This had been Louis 
XIV.'s aim in ‘The War of the Spanish 
Succession.’ See p. 137. 


6 . Pitt resigned on the 5th October 1761. 

7. Martinique, one of the West India Islands, 

belonging to France. 

8 . Havannah, capital of the Island of Cuba, be¬ 

longing to Spain. 

’9. Philippines, a large group of islands east of 
further India, belonging to Spain. 

10 . Peace of Paris, or Treaty of Fontainebleau, 

concluded in 1763. 

11. The famous No. 45. 

12 . General warrants are contrary to the Habeas 

Corpus Act. See p. 109. 

13. Privilege. The Chief-Justice had declared 

that a Member of Parliament could be 
arrested only for treason, felony, or breach 
of the peace. 

14. On March 28, 1768. 

15. * 45 .’ See note 11 above. 

16. The real constitutional points were—(1.) Privi¬ 

leges of Members of Parliament; (2.) the 
right of constituencies to choose their own 
members. 

17. This was the fourth time they had expelled 

Wilkes. 



THE WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 


THE WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 

AUSES of the War.— The 
chief causes of this long 
and disastrous conflict are 
to be sought in the high 
notions of prerogative held 
by George III., his infatu¬ 
ated and stubborn self-will, 
and in the equally absurd 
self-conceit of his English 
subjects. 

In her colonies Eng¬ 
land then acted on what 
GEORGE Washington. was called the colonial ' 

system} According to it, they existed for the benefit of the 
mother-country, could export their chief products only to 
the British dominions, and could import nothing from 
Europe which had not passed through England. A great 
deal of smuggling went on; but there had as yet been 
no serious quarrel, because the Imperial Government 
had for the most part hitherto left the colonies to them¬ 
selves. Grenville, the English Prime Minister, now 
determined not only to put down the smuggling of the 
American colonists, but to tax them for the benefit of 
the empire—the mode proposed for raising the revenue 
being to require that certain documents should be on 
stamped paper. 2 

The colonists at once took alarm, and the colonial as¬ 
semblies declared against the measure. The descendants 
of the old soldiers of the Parliament began to repeat 
the grand lesson of the long struggle of their English 





184 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE III. 


forefathers against the crown, and ( Taxation without 
Representation is Tyranny ’ became the watchword of 
the brave patriots who were to fight in America for the 
selfsame rights that the Englishmen of old had wrung 
from the tyrant John, the haughty Edward, and the re¬ 
luctant Charles I. 3 So strong was the feeling, that riots 
took place at Boston and elsewhere; and the colonists 
determined to do without English goods, so as to 
escape the hated imposition. All was in vain, for the 
king and people at home were deaf to their remon¬ 
strances ; and in 1 / 66 , although the Stamp Act was 
repealed, 4 the English Parliament passed a bill declaring 
the legislative supremacy of England over her colonies. 
Shortly afterwards a new scheme of taxation was in¬ 
troduced, by which the revenue was to be raised by 
port duties , not by internal excise. The feeling on both 
sides now became more and more bitter; and when the 
other duties were removed, that on tea was retained, 
more to mark the superiority of the English Parliament 
than as a matter of finance. 

A circumstance in itself trifling brought matters to a 
crisis. The East India Company had a great stock of 
tea in its warehouses, and it was allowed to export this 
to America free of English duties, so that in the colonies 
it could be sold at a very low rate, but the hated 
colonial duty had still to be paid. Three ships laden 
with tea arrived in Boston. 5 A band of men dressed as 
Mohawk Indians boarded them, and flung the chests 
into the sea. 

When the news reached England, the commercial 
classes were eager for a reconciliation, and Chatham 6 . 
wished to withdraw all the recent measures, and restore 
things to their old condition. But the king, the governing 


THE WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 


185 



classes > a nd the great body of the people , maintained that 
the time for conciliation was 
past, and that America must be 
subdued. Accordingly, measures 
for this purpose were 
carried without difficulty 
through Parliament. 


A BAND OF WEN DRESSED AS MOHAWK INDIANS BOARDED THEM, AND 
FLUNG THE CHESTS INTO THE SEA.” 


On this side of the Atlantic there was as yet no 

/L 
































186 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE III. 

regular outbreak, but the people were arming every¬ 
where. A congress assembled at Philadelphia,' and to 
this the colonists looked as the real governing power. 
They still professed loyalty to the king and mother 
country, but refused to pay taxes imposed by imperial 
authority, and entered into a rigid agreement neither to 
consume British goods nor to export a single product 
of their own. 

In England one last effort for conciliation was made. 
Lord North proposed that, as long as a colonial legisla¬ 
ture paid a reasonable sum towards imperial expenses, it 
should be exempted from .all imperial legislation. Had 
this wise concession come earlier, all would have been 
well ; but it now came too late. 

The Beginning 1 of Hostilities: George Washington. 
—In America the proposal was simply disregarded. 
Two months later, General Gage sent a party to destroy 
a quantity of stores collected at Concord , 8 but it was 
attacked and badly treated on its return. The whole 
population at once rose in arms, and Gage was shut up 
in Boston. He then fought and gained the battle of 
Bunkers Hill; but his troops reached the height only 
after being twice repulsed. Congress met on May io, 
agreed on various measures for resistance, and made a 
last effort for peace in a petition to the king which was 
never even considered. They then ordered an attack on 
Canada, which failed ; and their next important step was 
the appointment of George Washington as commander- 
in-chief. The war was now fairly begun, though it was 
not till 4th July, 1776, that the States declared their 
independence; and even then their action was hurried 
by England’s employment of German mercenaries 9 and 
their desire to obtain French assistance. 
a 


THE WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 187 

To Washington was mainly due the success of the 
colonists, and he has ever since been hailed by his 
grateful fellow-citizens as ‘ The Father of his Country 
This sincere patriot was in the highest sense a noble 
gentleman, a man without eloquence and of great 
modesty, but having high administrative powers, mode¬ 
ration, and self-control. 

Further, a certain nobleness of thought and lofty 
elevation of character distinguished him from his 
fellows. His character, great in itself, seems greater 
when placed in contrast even with the most devoted of 
his friends and the bravest of his enemies. Thus 
George Washington stands pre-eminent as the one great 
figure of the American War of Independence. 

Course of the War: The Surrender of Saratoga. 
—The chief events of that war may be briefly 
told. Washington forced Howe, who had succeeded 
Gage, to leave Boston 10 —the key of the north¬ 
eastern states. That general, however, before the 
end of the year, was successful in taking New York. 
Washington was then obliged to retire beyond the 
Delaware, and Congress moved from Philadelphia to 
Baltimore. 11 Washington’s army was at this time- 
in great danger of falling to pieces ; but, by two bold 
and successful attacks 12 on the enemy, he revived the 
courage of his men and regained the greater part of 
New Jersey. 

In June 1777, Howe sailed round the coast 
and up Chesapeake Bay. He then defeated Wash¬ 
ington at Brandy - wine Creek , took Philadelphia, 
and again defeated the American General at German - 
toivn. 

This was the critical moment of the war. Washing- 


a 


188 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE III. 

ton was pressed for recruits, and the infant Republic 
was in great financial straits. France, though sym¬ 
pathising with the Americans, waited for some decisive 
event. Such an event now happened. It had been 
arranged that General Burgoyne should move from 
Canada on New York, by the line of the Hudson 
river and lakes George and Champlain. To hold this 
line would be to cut off the north-east provinces from 
the rest of America, and break the enemy’s power of 
resistance. He made the attempt, but was forced to 
surrender at Saratoga . 13 France now joined in the war, 
and was soon followed by Spain and Holland; Lord 
North wished to resign; but the king was as firm as 
ever , and he was supported by popular feeling in England . 

There were still many variations in the fortunes of war 
before the end came. The closing event of the conflict 
was a movement by Lord Cornwallis into Virginia. 
He expected to be supported from the sea, but in this 
he was disappointed and was forced to surrender at 
Yorktown with an effective force of 4000 men. 14 This 
really terminated the war as far as America was con¬ 
cerned, although it was not till January, 1783, 15 that 
the Independence of the United States was finally 
acknowledged. 

Europe and the War: Siege of Gibraltar. —As has 
been said, France, Spain, and Holland had joined the 
States in their struggle against Britain; while Russia 
and the other powers of Northern Europe had entered 
into a league which directly aimed at our maritime 
supremacy. As Lord Chatham had formerly said, ( But 
yesterday and England might have stood against the 
world, now none so poor as do her reverence.’ 

These governments, in fact, believed that this country 


THE WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 189 



3 ° 


100 


Scale of English Miles 
zyo a soo 


400 
















190 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE III. 


was irretrievably ruined, and each was eager to possess 
a portion of so vast a spoil. Holland wished to recover 
the maritime supremacy of which she had been deprived, 
France was eager to recover the vast Indian Empire 
won by Clive, and Spain made sure that Gibraltar was 
within her grasp. 

In this mighty contest between England and the 
world, we shall give an account of two incidents, the 
first of which once more destroyed the naval power of 
France, while the second effectually humbled the over¬ 
confident might of Spain. 

In April of 1782 there was an attempt to capture 
Jamaica by an attack of the combined French and 
Spanish naval and military forces. Admiral Rodney, 
however, was successful in bringing on an action with 
the French fleet under De Grasse, near the island of 
Dominica™ before they could unite with the Spaniards. 
One of the most fearful of naval battles then took place. 
Rodney broke the enemy’s line and engaged him at 
such close quarters that the guns of the opposing vessels 
almost touched. The French decks were crowded with 
soldiers intended to act against Jamaica, and the fire of 
the English mowed down the dense masses. For eleven 
hours the combat raged. The sea was covered with 
masses of wreck and a multitude of human corpses; 
shoals of sharks moved about in the crimson tide, 
and, not content with preying on the dead bodies, sur¬ 
rounded the masses of wreck and tore away the sailors 
who clung to them. The Admiral’s flag-ship, the 
i Ville de Paris,’ esteemed the flower of the whole 
French navy, was captured after a desperate struggle. 
She was then but a floating wreck; and, when her con¬ 
querors stepped on board, they found but three un- 


a 


THE WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 


191 


wounded men. By this victory, Jamaica was saved and 
the French naval power completely broken. 

This decisive blow was followed some months later 
by the failure of the siege of Gibraltar , which had 
occupied the Spaniards for three years. 17 



FOR ELEVEN HOURS THE COMBAT RAGED/’ 


The final assault took place 
on the 13th September 1782. 

There were ten battering ships, 
forty-seven ships of the line, and a countless number of 









192 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE III. 


minor vessels. During the whole day a cannonade, un¬ 
exampled in warfare, was kept up from land batteries 
and sea batteries against the fortress. The besieged 
replied with red-hot balls. The roar of 400 guns rent 
the air. At last the moveable battering-rams took 
fire, and when night had fallen they supplied light by 
which the combat was continued. In the morning it 
was seen how completely the attack had failed, and 
the British “ devoted all their efforts to saving their 
now helpless enemies from the waves and the burning 
ships.” 

These events effectually changed the tone of the 
French and Spanish Governments, and they were glad 
to agree to a termination of the war into which they had 
so eagerly entered. By this treaty, 1S as has been said, 
American independence was recognised, and some trifling 
acquisitions of territory made no recompense to France 
and Spain for the enormous waste of blood and treasure 
which thev had incurred. 19 


1. Colonial System, which may be dated from 

the passing of the first Navigation Act 
against the Dutch (see note 9, page 87). 

2. Stamped Paper. A measure to this effect, 

called the Stamp Act, was passed through 
Parliament in 1765, almost without notice. 

3. This refers to (1.) Magna Charta forced from 

John (1215); (2.) The statutes forbidding 
taxation without the consent of Parlia¬ 
ment wrung from Edward I. (1297) ; and 
(3.) The Petition of Right exacted from 
Charles I. (1628). In all of these, the 
principle maintained was virtually that of 
the American motto— 4 Taxation without 
reiyresentation is tyranny .* 

4. After Grenville’s administration came the 

short one of Grafton (1766), followed by 
the shorter one of Mansfield (September 
to December 1767), followed in turn by 
Grafton’s second ministry (1767-1770), to 
be followed by the longer one of Lord 
North (1770-1782). 

5. Boston, chief town in Massachusetts, now 

the intellectual capital of the United 
States. The attack on the tea-ships took 


place in December 1773. 

6. Chatham. Pitt was made Earl of Chatham 

in 1766. 

7. February 20. 1775. 

8. Concord, a town in Massachusetts. 

9. German mercenaries. The employment by 

England of foreign troops—Germans, and 
even Indians—added intense bitterness to 
the conflict. 

10. This took place in the beginning of the 

campaign of 1776. 

11. The reader should carefully follow the dif¬ 

ferent movements of the war upon the 
accompanying map. 

12. Successful attacks, viz., at Trenton and 

Princeton, in New Jersey. 

13. Saratoga, 17th October 1777. 

14. October 18, 1781. 

15. By the Treaty of Versailles. 

16. Dominica, a British island in the West 

Indies. 

17. From 1779-1783. 

18. The Treaty of Versailles, January 20,1783. 

19. The American war added £100,000,000 to our 

national debt. 



THE MINISTRY OF THE YOUNGER PITT. 


193 


THE MINISTRY OF THE YOUNGER PITT. 

EGINNING of Pitt’s 
Ministry: The French 
Revolution. —Shortly af¬ 
ter the close of the Ame¬ 
rican war, the second son 
of the great Chatham be¬ 
came Prime Minister of 
England at the age of 
twenty-four, 1 and proved 
himself to be a statesman 
no less illustrious than his 
father. He had something 
william pitt. of Chatham’s eloquence 

and courage, had all his patriotism and contempt for low 
actions and selfish gains, while he had more self-control 
and geniality. To his high and noble spirit, England 
owed much of its success in the long struggle against 
France; and to him it was due that no invading army 
desecrated her shores, and that alone she was able to 
confront Napoleon at the very summit of his glory. 

We must now turn aside for a little from the history 
of England itself, to notice a great revolution in France, 
which had vast influence on our own country and on all 
the nations of Europe. The course of French history 
had resulted in the establishment of a despotic govern¬ 
ment centred in Paris. All the privileges and enjoy¬ 
ments of life were in the hands of the few, while the great 
majority of the nation were wretched and oppressed. 2 
For more than two centuries no representative assembly 
had been held. 3 But now the wars in which France had 

W N 



194 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE III. 

so freely engaged had thrown the finances of the country 
into hopeless confusion ; and at last it was determined to 
convoke the States-General 4 —a body resembling the 
British Parliament. The representatives, declaring them¬ 
selves to be a National Assembly, abolished the special 
privileges of the nobility, 5 and confiscated the property of 
the Church. Finally, on the memorable 14th of July 
1789, the Bastile—that gloomy prison in which so 
many unhappy victims of tyranny had languished—was 
destroyed by an infuriated mob. 

From step to step the work of revolution now rapidly 
advanced. At first only the aristocracy were attacked, 
and the office of king was retained but with very limited 
power. Next, fearing foreign interference, the Assembly 
declared war against Austria 6 and Prussia, and then 
suspended the king . 7 Massacres of royalists followed, 
and a month afterwards the National Democratic Con¬ 
vention proclaimed a Republic. 8 They then declared 
themselves the enemies of all governments and the allies 
of all peoples . Finally the king, Louis XVI., was exe¬ 
cuted ; and war was declared against England. 9 

England and the French Republic. —Ten years had 
now elapsed since the close of the great war of American 
Independence. During that time, Pitt’s policy had been 
devoted to raise England from the exhausted state in 
which that struggle had left her. In this he had been 
successful; for England, notwithstanding the loss of 
her colonies, was once more feared and respected. 
Although he had striven to keep peace with France, the 
action of the Republic forced war upon him; and he 
prepared to carry it on with a vigour not unworthy of 
his great father. The struggle consisted of a series of 
great campaigns on land , and a continuous naval contest 


a 



THE MINISTRY OF THE YOUNGER PITT. 


195 


between England and France for supremacy at sea. 
In tlie first of these the French were almost uniformly 
successful—their victories being due to the courage and 
energy of their soldiers, to the ability of their generals, 
and very specially to the splendid military genius of 
Napoleon Buonaparte. Within four years all the con¬ 
tinental allies of England had been forced to make 
peace with the triumphant democracy, and she was 
left to cope with France alone. 10 It was at this time 
thought that Napoleon intended to attempt the inva¬ 
sion of England ; but, instead of doing so, he persuaded 
the French Government, that a blow could be best struck 
at her power in the East, and astonished the world 
by his Egyptian expedition. 11 After gaining several 
brilliant victories he returned to France 12 and was made 
first consuL His army had been left behind him ; and, 
after having been totally defeated at the battle of Alex¬ 
andria, it was forced to capitulate to the British}* 

Meanwhile, Pitt’s energy had reunited the European 
powers against their conqueror. But the presence of 
Napoleon gave victory to the arms of France ; and he 
not only re-conquered Italy, 14 but, by the victory of 
Hohenlinden, 15 threatened Vienna itself, and forced 
Austria to seek for peace. 16 

English Naval Victories : The Battle of the Nile.— 
If Napoleon, however, triumphed on the continent, 
England had been no less successful at sea, in India, 
and in Egypt. One can only enumerate a few of the 
great naval victories of this war, but the gallant ad¬ 
mirals who preceded Nelson deserve their country’s 
praise. The defeat of the French off Brest 17 by Lord 
Howe, the destruction of the Spanish fleet at Cape St. 
Vincent by Admiral Jervis, 18 and the annihilation of 


I 9 6 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE III. 

their Dutch allies off Cainpevdown by the gallant Duncan 
—these, and such victories, crushed the naval power 
of the Republic and checked its career of conquest. 

One of the greatest of the naval encounters of this 
war was the famous Battle of the Nile , won by Nelson 
in 1798. That illustrious admiral had intended to 
attack the French fleet as it bore Napoleon’s army to 
Egypt; but it escaped him, and he was able to come 
up with it only on the coast of Egypt at Aboukir Bay. 1 

The determining event 
of the battle was the de¬ 
struction of the “ Orient,” 
the admiral’s ship. Ad¬ 
miral Brueys himself was 
there. He was wounded 
thrice, but refused to go 
below. Then a chain-shot 
tore him so terribly that 
he died almost at once, 
still refusing to be taken 
from the deck. The ves¬ 
sel then took fire. She 
blazed like a huge torch, 
and threw a light so clear over the bay that even the 
colours of the ships could be distinguished. Whilst her 
crew were still continuing the combat from the lower 
deck, she blew up with so terrible a report that every 
ship in the bay shook, and the awe-struck combatants 
suspended their efforts. 

Of the thirteen ships of the line with which the French 
entered the battle, two only escaped. “ Victory,” said 
Nelson, “ is not a name strong enough for such a scene.” 

Still another great exploit of Nelson requires to be 







THE MINISTRY OF THE YOUNGER ITTT. 197 

mentioned. Russia, Sweden, and Denmark had again 
joined in an armed neutrality against England. 20 To 
prevent the formidable fleet of the latter power from 
being used against them, the English sent an expedition 
to Copenhagen. In this, Nelson gained a great victory, 
and thus broke up the dangerous northern league. 21 

Both nations now needed rest; and so, on March 27, 
1802, peace was concluded at Amiens. By this treaty, 
England restored all her colonial conquests except Ceylon 
and Trinidad, and acknowledged Napoleon. Sheridan ex¬ 
pressed the general opinion when he said, “ This is a peace 
which all men are glad of, but no man can be proud of.” 22 

England and Ireland.—The first year of the nine¬ 
teenth century witnessed a change of the utmost import¬ 
ance in the government of the country—the legislative 
union of Great Britain and Ireland. The latter had 
for centuries laboured under great evils, for England 
had never been able to make its inhabitants contented 
with her yoke. The ruling class was separated by 
race, religion, position, and interest from those they 
ruled : the former was Saxon, Protestant, land-owning; 
the latter were Celtic, Roman Catholic, and peasants. 
The making of the laws was entirely in the hands 
of the Protestant minority, and the Parliament they 
elected was more corrupt than the English Parlia¬ 
ment had been in its worst days. Further, the land 
was held under a system 23 which left the peasantry but 
little hope in harvest industry; and the whole trade of 
Ireland was discouraged lest it should come into com¬ 
petition with that of England. 

Ireland was accordingly ripe for rebellion, and an 
insurrection broke out in 1798. Both the rising and 
its suppression were marked by great cruelty. 

a 


igS THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE III 


The better class of Catholics had not taken part in 
the revolt. Pitt was convinced that no harm could arise 
to Britain if justice was done them; and they, knowing 
his inclination, were ready to support him in the plan he 
now disclosed for a union between the Parliaments of the 
two countries. 

The landholders, however, offered sturdy opposition 
to the proposed union. More than a million was, there¬ 
fore, spent in buying them over', and there was a lavish 
bestowal of honours. An effective majority was thus 
secured. A party, of whom Grattan 24 was the chief, and 
who believed that the interests of Ireland were best 
served by a separate Parliament, still opposed it. But 
they were powerless ; the majority in favour of the 
Union resolutions was no less than 46 ; 25 and the 
Parliament of Ireland was incorporated with that of 
Great Britain. 20 


1. Pitt became minister in 1783, and, with an 

interval from 1801-1804, he remained in 
power till 1806. 

2. See p. 147. 

3. The last meeting of the French representa¬ 

tives had been held in 1614. 

4. They met on the 5th May 1789. 

5. Privileges of the nobility. Among other 

privileges the governing classes paid no 
taxes, so that all the burden fell upon the 
masses of the people. 

f>. War was declared against Austria in April 
1792, 

7. The king was suspended on August 10.1792. 

8 . The Republic was proclaimed on September 

12, 1792. 

9. February 8,1793. 

10. The last power to hold out was Austria, but 

it was forced to yield by Napoleon’s brilliant 
Italian campaign. Peace was made be¬ 
tween it and France on the 17th October 
1797. 

11. 1798. 

12. Napoleon left Egypt in 1799. 

13. In 1801. The British leader was the brave 

Sir Ralph Abercrombie, who was mortally 
wounded in the battle. 

14. After leading his army across the Alps, 

Napoleon won the great battle of Marengo, 
in Piedmont, 


15. Hohenlinden, in the south-east of Bavaria, 

between the rivers Inn and Isar. The 
battle was fought on the 2d of December 
1800. 

16. Peace was made between France and Austria 

on February 9, 1801. 

17. In 1794. 

18. This battle took place in 1797; the Spanish 

ships had been intended to help in the in¬ 
vasion of England. 

19. Aboukir Bay, 12 miles north-east of Alex¬ 

andria. 

20. See p. 190. 

21. The battle of Copenhagen was fought in 1801. 

22. Pitt had resigned before the peace, and had 

been succeeded by Addington. See note 1, 
above. 

23. The Land System of Ireland was a very bad 

one. * Middle-men' collected the rents for 
the landlords and the tithes for the clergy. 
The wealthier proprietors and clergy were 
absentees, and were thus a continual drain 
upon the resources of the unhappy country. 

24. Grattan. See note 4, p. 176. 

25. The bill received the royal assent on August 

2, 1800, and the first United Parliament 
met in 1801, which is always taken as the 
actual date of the union. 

26. Ireland was to send 100 Commons, 24 tem¬ 

poral and 4 spiritual peers. 




EXGLAND AND NAPOLEON. 


199 


ENGLAND AND NAPOLEON: 
THE PENINSULAR WAR. 



H E Period before the 
Peninsular War.—After 
little more than a year 
of peace, Napoleon once 
more declared war against 
England. 1 He saw that 
England was the one 
power in Europe which, in 
spite of his victories, could 
shield his enemies, con¬ 
demn his ambition, and 
confront him as an equal. 

Tidings of vast arma¬ 
ments which were being 
equipped in France soon roused the English people 
to make preparations for the defence of their homes, 2 and 
Napoleon was only prevented from ever disembarking 
his vaunted ‘ army of England ’ by two obstacles—Pitt's 
able European policy, and the triumphant success of the 


NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE. 


British fleet under the heroic Nelson. 

When the French emperor saw that his scheme of 
invasion had become hopeless, he collected his troops for a 
series of gigantic attacks upon his continental foes. The 
year that followed was the most glorious in his history. 
He had a few months before proclaimed himself King 
of Italy ; 3 and he now within six weeks forced an Austrian 
army to capitulate, 4 entered Vienna, and broke up the 
union between Austria and Russia by the great battle of 
Austerlitz . 5 Prussia was afterwards completely over- 





















200 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY.—GEORGE III. 

thrown at Jena, 6 and Napoleon entered Berlin in 
triumph. 

The Battle of Trafalgar: Death of Nelson.—As 

Napoleon triumphed on land, so did England at sea. 
Two days after the Austrian army had capitulated on 
the banks of the Danube, Nelson destroyed the French 
fleet in the great battle of Trafalgar. 7 

The British fleet attacked the French in two lines—one 
led by Nelson, dashing at the centre of the enemy; the 
other, commanded by the noble Collingwood, sweeping 
down upon the rear. Although the French fleet was a 
good deal stronger than the British, 8 the issue was never 
for a moment doubtful; for in spite of the most desperate 
bravery, twenty of their ships were taken. Alas ! the 
moment of triumph became likewise that of sorrow, for 
the heroic Nelson was slain. His last signal was 
“ England expects every man to do his duty; ” his last 
words, again and again repeated, were, “ Thank God, I 
have done my duty.” It was in the thickest of the 
fight that he received his death-wound. He knew it 
was mortal, but still was able to give directions for the 
safety of the fleet; and his last moments were soothed 
by the knowledge that he had gained a great and splendid 
victory. 

Nelson’s was a simple, pious, and heroic nature. He 
was generous even to a fault, passionate and warm¬ 
hearted. Daring, yet cautious and far-seeing, fear was 
to him unknown. English seamen held his name as 
something sacred; pieces of his flag and of the coffin 
that brought home his remains were claimed as relics; 
while the nation felt that even Trafalgar was dearly 
purchased by the loss of Nelson. 

Death of Pitt.—Scarcely three months afterwards, 




ENGLAND AND NAPOLEON 


201 



THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR, 
















202 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY-GEORGE III. 


Pitt died of a broken heart. 9 The plans he had laboriously 
elaborated for the destruction of Napoleon were all de¬ 
feated by ‘ Austerlitz/ He said bitterly that the old map 
of Europe would no longer be required, and so severely 
had the news impressed him that men spoke of his 
Austerlitz look. They laid him beside his father in 
Westminster Abbey, and the year was not yet out when 
another statesman, Pitt’s equal and rival, was laid beside 
him. This was the famous Charles James Fox , 10 whose 
ardent and hopeful nature had led him to sympathise 
with the French Revolution and even for Iona: to believe 
in Buonaparte. Some vain negotiations for peace, con¬ 
ducted after the death of Pitt, convinced him that he 
was wrong. Disappointed hopes hastened his end, as 
it had done that of the rival beside whom he sleeps. 

Beginning 1 of the Peninsular War: Battle of Co¬ 
runna.—The years 1807 an( ^ 1808 were dark years in 
the history of England. All Europe was against her; 
and by the Berlin decree 11 Napoleon declared the British 
Islands in a state of blockade, and thus struck a deadly 
blow at that commercial greatness which he saw to be 
the main source of the country's strength. Russia, 12 
too, had at last yielded to Napoleon, and was now the 
ally of France and the enemy of England. Yet it was 
at this time that, having driven the French from the sea, 
Britain determined to grapple with her enemy on land. 

It was in the Peninsula that the first sign of a change 
was seen. Napoleon had invaded Portugal, and a British 
army, under Wellesley, 13 was sent to its assistance. The 
expedition was successful, 14 and the French withdrew. 15 

But this brief success was soon overclouded. Napoleon 
collected immense armies, and himself hurried into Spain 
to direct them. The Spaniards had made great boast- 

a 



THE PENINSULAR WAR, 


203 



and that he would have to meet alone the French army 
of 70,000. He at once saw the real state of things, and 
retreated just in time to escape destruction. 

The fleet was at Vigo , 16 and the army at first moved 
there; but it was seen that the harbour was not suit¬ 


ings about the strength of their forces, and large supplies 
of arms had been sent out to them. Further, Sir John 
Moore, with a small army of 25,000, was ordered to 
advance into Spain and give them support. He found 
that the Spanish armies had vanished before the emperor, 


THE BURIAL OE Slit JOHN MOORE. 




PENINSULAR WAR 


204. 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY-GEORGE III. 



Scale of English 















































































































































































































































































THE TENINSULAK WAH. 


205 


able, and the route was changed for Corunna . 17 The 
march from first to last was one long series of diffi¬ 
culties and dangers. In the gloomy winter weather 
the army struggled on, and at Lugo 18 offered battle. 
The French declined it; and in the night the English, 
leaving their camp-fires burning to deceive the enemy, 
silently continued their retreat over roads where the 
way was marked for them by bundles of straw. At 
last Corunna was reached; but the fleet was not yet 
there ; and, as the French soon occupied the heights, 19 
it was necessary to fight a battle in order to be able to 
embark. The British were successful, but in the heat 
of the battle their brave general was cruelly wounded by 
a cannon shot, and died giving utterance to the earnest 
hope that his country would do him justice. He was 
hurriedly buried by his sorrowing comrades, who felt 
that although his expedition had failed, the time would 
come when England would reverence her hero’s name. 

The Campaigns of Wellington.—Three months after 
the battle of Corunna, Wellington 20 (for he may at once 
be called by the name by which he will be for ever 
known in history), arrived at Lisbon, and it was then 
that the struggle for the deliverance of the Peninsula 
really began. There have been generals more brilliant 
and more dashing, but none more prudent, more wisely 
daring and farsighted—none more certain to win success 
in the end. A principle of duty to his country ruled 
all his actions; and, although so skilful in the art of 
war, he felt deeply its horrors—gladly laying aside the 
sword after his task was done. 

Such was Spain’s deliverer, and all his qualities were 
needed for the task before him. He was able again and 
again to advance into that country, 21 but was forced time 


206 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE III. 

after time to retire; and whenever he had to depend 
upon the help of those men whose country he was 
freeing, he found himself baffled. One refuge he had 
secured for himself. By the lines of Torres Vedras , 22 
he had safely guarded a tract of country between the 
Tagus and the sea. Massena appeared before this 
stronghold in November i 8 I o, but was forced to retreat 
without having accomplished anything. Wellington was 
soon successful in freeing Portugal; and, though the 
French were long able to keep their hold on Spain, 
yet that hold cost them tremendous sacrifices. 23 The 
moral effect of the conflict was great. The nations of 
Europe could now see that the armies of France were 
not irresistible; and the spectacle of that country striv¬ 
ing to subdue a people struggling for freedom proved 
how far she had departed from the first principles of 
the Revolution. At last Europe rose against Napoleon, 
and he was forced to release his hold on the Peninsula. 24 

The last campaign was that of 1813. In June 
of that year, Wellington gained a great victory at 
Vittoria 25 over the French, who were forced to retreat, 
leaving not merely the plunder and treasure they were 
carrying from Spain, but all their military stores behind 
them. A succession of terrible conflicts was fought 
in the passes of the Pyrenees. The French resisted 
gallantly but in vain, for the British still advanced. 
The long series of combats was closed by the battle of 
Toulouse. 2G This was not a decisive conflict, but the 
advantages of victory remained with the British, and 
the French still retreated. As the British were pre¬ 
paring to press forward, they learned that Napoleon had 
abdicated six days before—the accidental delay of the 
messengers had thus cost the loss of 8000 men. 


THE PENINSULAR WAR. 


207 


Napoleon had at last fallen ! He had declared war 
against Russia, and marched into the heart of that 
country. He had taken Moscow, but it was burned by 
its inhabitants, and the invader was forced to retreat. 
His army was almost destroyed by the terrible weather 



NAPOLEON’S RETREAT FROM MOSCOW. 


and the host of enemies that hovered round his famished 
columns. France had been drained of men, and now 
all Europe rose up against its humbled emperor. In 
vain Napoleon displayed his marvellous generalship! 
In vain his soldiers sacrificed themselves with reckless 









208 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY— GEOROE III. 


bravery! Nothing could prevent the inevitable ruin ! 
The Allied Armies 2< entered France, and occupied the 
capital. The fallen conqueror was given the island of 
Elba as a place of retirement, the Bourbons 28 were 
restored, and a congress was summoned to Vienna to 
reconstruct the political system of Europe. 


1 The peace had lasted from March 27, 1802, to 
May 18, 1803. 

2. This period is marked by a great volunteer 

movement. The manhood of Great Bri¬ 
tain enrolled themselves in every town 
and county of the kingdom to fight for 
home and" liberty. 

3. Napoleon was proclaimed King of Italy in 

May 1805. 

4. At Ulm, in the east of Wurtemberg, on the 

Danube, October 19,1805, two days before 
Trafalgar. 

5. Austerlitz, near Brunn, in Moravia. The bat¬ 

tle was fought on December 2, 1805. The 
Austrians lost 27,000 killed and wounded, 
20,000 prisoners, and 133 pieces of cannon. 

6. Jena, in the Saxon States, on the Saale, 

north of Bavaria. The battle took place 
on October 14, 180G; Napoleon entered 
Berlin on October 27. 

7. Trafalgar, a wild headland west of the Strait 

of Gibraltar. The battle was fought in 
October 1805. 

8. The French entered the battle with 33 sail of 

the line and 7 frigates; the British with 
27 sail of the line and 4 frigates. 

9. January 23, 1806. 

10. Fox died in September. 

11. Berlin decree, issued in November 1806. 

This edict forbade all British trade with 
the Continent. 

12. Russia was defeated at Friedland on June 

14, 1807, and made alliance with Napoleon 
by the treaty of Tilsit on July 17. 

13. Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington. 

At this time he was hampered by the 
interference of the commonplace Sir 
Harry Burrard and Sir Hugh Dalrymple, 
who were set over him. It was the latter, 
against Wellesley’s advice, who concluded 
the Convention. 

14. Wellesley won the battles of Rorica or Rolica 

and Vimiera, both in Portugal. 

15. The withdrawal was agreed to at the Con¬ 

vention of Cintra, signed August 30, 1808. 
Cintra is a small town near Cape Roca, 
west of Lisbon. 

16. Vigo, on Vigo Bay, in Galicia near the Portu¬ 

guese frontier. 

17. Corunna, in the north-west of Galicia, be¬ 


tween Capes Ortegal and Finisterre. The 
battle was fought on January 16, 1809. 

18. Lugo, on the Minho, in Galicia, south-east of 

Corunna. 

19. The heights. The Cantabrian Mountains 

form an extension of the Pyrenees to Cape 
Finisterre, and run east of Corunna, com¬ 
manding the town. 

20. Sir Arthur Wellesley arrived at Lisbon (this 

time as commander-in-chief), on April 22, 
1809. 

21. That is, to advance into Spain from Portugal. 

On his first advance he won the great battle 
of Talavera, on the Tagus, 75 miles south¬ 
west of Madrid. 

22. Torres Vedras, a village 27 miles north-west 

of Lisbon. Wellington built a double wall 
of stone across the hills from the Tagus to 
the Atlantic. 

23. In the year 1811 the English gained three 

great victories in their second advance 
into Spain. These were the following:— 
(1.) Graham defeated Marshal Victor at 
Barrosa, to the west of Cadiz (March 5, 
1811); (2.) Wellington routed the French at 
Fuentes cVOnoro , in Spain, near the Portu¬ 
guese frontier, south-west of Ciudad Rod¬ 
rigo (May 5); (3.) He gained the still more 
decisive victory of Albuera , in Spain, near 
Badajoz, 120 miles east of Lisbon (May 16). 

24. In the year 1812, Wellington made his third 

invasion of Spain. In this he gained the 
following victories(1.) Capture of Ciudad 
Rodrigo , in Spain, near the Portuguese 
frontier; (2.) Capture of Badajoz , in Spain, 
on the Guadiana, near the Portuguese 
frontier; (3.) Overcame Marmout at Sala¬ 
manca , on the Tormes, 112 miles north¬ 
west of Madrid; (4.) He entered Madrid in 
triumph on the 12th August. The advance 
of two armies against him then forced him 
to retreat on Portugal. 

j 25. Vittoria, in the north of Spain, 30 miles south 
of Bilbao, on the Bay of Biscay. 

26. Toulouse, in the soutji of France, on the 

Garonne; fought April 10, 1814. 

27. The Allied Armies, chiefly Russia, Austria, 

and Prussia. To thee© are to be added the 
victorious army of Britain from the south. 

I 28. The Bourbons. Sc© note 8, p. 176. 









WATERLOO. 


209 


WATERLOO. 



fO the Bourbons were fugi- 
[ tives, and that the Em- 


(f) peror was once more in¬ 
stalled in Paris. Napoleon, 


! Elba, that all France had 
rallied round him, that 


- poleon had escaped from 


cult negotiations were 
still proceeding 1 when the 
assembled diplomatists 
were informed that Na- 


HE Renewal of the 
Struggle.— The diffi- 


WKLLINGTON. 


in spite of his fair promises, was then declared a public 
enemy ; and a league of the great European powers was 
formed to overturn his power. 

Napoleon saw that instant action was necessary. He 
felt that his only chance was to win some splendid vic¬ 
tories, and then break up the league against him. 
Success was by no means hopeless. He had great 
genius, and was at the head of the most splendid soldiers 
in Europe—seasoned veterans devotedly attached to him. 
His opponents were many, their interests were not 
identical, and it would take some time before their 
unwieldy forces could act with full effect. 

Belgium seemed marked out by various circumstances 
as the theatre of the impending conflict. To this 
country Wellington was despatched at the head of 
80,000 men. His plan was to advance from the sea 
eastward until he united with the Prussians, 110,000 
in number, and led by the brave Blucher. The com- 


0 



210 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE III. 


bined armies would then outnumber the French, and 
could at once advance upon France from the north¬ 
east. Napoleon’s evident design was to move his troops 
in one mass into Belgium, interpose between the 



NAPOLEON’S ESCAPE FROM ELBA. 


He was successful in advancing into Belgium, and 
separating the English from the Prussians. He then 
defeated the latter at Ligny , 2 driving them northward 3 
and sending an army under Grouchy to prevent their 
























WATERLOO. 


211 

union with Wellington. On the same day, Ney, who 
had been sent forward towards Brussels, encountered 
Wellington at Quatre Bras . 4 He strove, with stubborn 
but unsuccessful valour, to drive the English from their 
position. But, having been joined by Napoleon with 
the victorious army of Ligny, he was able once more to 
advance and compel the English general to fall back. 
The Field of Waterloo.—The final struggle took 



lington had sent word to Blucher that he would hold 
the hill of St. Jean; 6 and on being assured that the 
Prussians would arrive ere the close of the day, 7 took 
up his position. Both armies lay across the road to 
Waterloo—having a valley between them, in which 
stood several country and farm houses. The chief of 
these was Hougoumont , which was on the British right, 
and garrisoned by them. 

On the night of that 17th of J une, the soldiers lay down 
on the bare ground. The night was tempestuous, and 









212 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE III. 


rain fell heavily. At dawn the bad weather still con¬ 
tinued ; but in the early forenoon it cleared off, and the 
lines of the enemy could be seen on the opposite ridge. 

Napoleon knew well the importance of the struggle 
about to begin. “ If,” said he afterwards, “ the English 
army had been beaten at Waterloo, what would have 
been the use of these numerous bodies of troops—of 
Prussians, Austrians, Germans, and Spaniards, which 
were advancing by forced marches to the Rhine, the Alps, 
and the Pyrenees ? ” But he did not move at dawn, be¬ 
cause he wished to have dry ground on which to operate, 
and he thought that the marshalling and reviewing of 
his troops would excite their enthusiasm. In this he 
judged rightly; but he did not know that Blucher was 
hurrying to the assistance of their allies. This fatal 
error was the chief cause of his ruin.’ It was not till 
nearly noon that he commenced his attack. 

Although this was the only occasion on which Napo¬ 
leon and Wellington, the two greatest of then living 
generals, measured themselves against each other, the 
battle was not remarkable for skilled or complicated 
manoeuvres. Its main points were four in number—an 
attack on Hougoumont, a similar advance against the 
English left, a furious charge on the English right 
centre, and a final onslaught on the whole British line. 

The attack on Hougoumont was not according to 
Napoleon’s intention to form a chief part in the battle, 
but it became so because that point was so stubbornly 
defended. The wood round it was occupied by the 
enemy, the building itself was set on fire, but at the 
close of the day it was still in the hands of the British. 

The second movement was a determined attack on 
the British left by a great mass of French infantry. This 



WATERLOO. 


213 


charge succeeded in destroying the first line, consisting 
of foreign troops; but it was then received by the 
English foot under Picton, with a volley poured in at 
close quarters and a bayonet charge. The assailants were 
then charged by the British cavalry, and driven back 
across the valley. The British line remained unbroken. 

The third attempt 
consisted, as lias been 
said, of a series of 
cavalry charges against 
the British right cen¬ 
tre. This attack was 
afterwards found to 
have been the de¬ 
cisive moment of the 
day. At one time 
some of the French 
were able to 
seize part of the ridge. 

They also held La Haye 
Sainte , 8 one of the farm¬ 
houses already men¬ 
tioned, which was situ¬ 
ated near the British 
line. Could Napoleon, 
at this crisis, have 
poured in a large force of infantry to support them, the 
fate of the day might have been changed; but he had 
no men to spare. Blucher had kept his word. The 
Prussians were arriving in constantly increasing force 
on the French right, and were threatening, not only to 
ruin Napoleon’s last chance of victory, but to cut off all 
chance of escape. 








214 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE III. 


Retreat was still possible, but it meant ruin as com¬ 
plete as the most utter loss could make it. There was 
still one chance of success. The Old Guard had been held 
in reserve, and it was now brought forward and hurled 
against the British centre. This was accompanied with 
an advance of other portions of the French army. But 
they were met with deadly volleys of shot poured in at 
close quarters and bayonet charges, driven back in con¬ 
fusion, and the last hope of Napoleon was lost. It was 
past eight o’clock in the evening when the order, so long 
eagerly expected, was given to the British army to ad¬ 
vance. They poured into the valley and up the opposite 
ridge, met with little resistance, and soon the whole 
French army was in retreat—a retreat which became a 
disorderly rout as the Prussians followed hard in pursuit. 

On the field of battle all was now still save for 
the groans of the wounded. The ghastly horrors of 
the scene were half revealed by the moonlight that 
poured down on it. Wellington, after an interview with 
Blucher, rode back over the ground, and even his iron 
stoicism was shaken by the spectacle of human suffering 
that he viewed around him. “ My heart is broken,” he 
wrote at the time, “ by the terrible loss I have sustained 
in my old friends and companions, and my poor soldiers. 
Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so 
melancholy as a battle won.” The second occupation of 
Paris, the second abdication of Napoleon, his surrender to 
the English, confinement in St. Helena 9 for life, and the 
second treaty of Paris, which again reconstituted the French 
monarchy, were the results, of the great victory of Waterloo. 


1. The Congress began to meet at Vienna in 

September 1814; the news of Napoleon’s 
escape reached it in March 1815. 

2. Ligny, in the province of Namur in Belgium, 


20 miles south-east of Brussels, and north 
of the river Sambre. The battle took place 
on the 16th of June. 

3. Northward. This is one of the important 



THE FIELD OF WATERLOO. 


215 


points in the brief but terrible campaign. | 
Napoleon thought the Prussians had re- i 
treated eastward. 

4. Quatre Bras (pronounced Katr Brah), 20 

miles south of Brussels. 

5. Waterloo, 10 miles south of Brussels. 

6 . 8t. Jean (pronounced Sangt Jang), a hill 

south of Waterloo. 

7. liccall here note 3 ubovc. It was here Napo¬ 


leon made his mistake, lie never dreamt 
that the Prussians could arrive in time. 

8 . La Haye Sainte (pronounced (Im ay Sangt) 

south of the village of Waterloo and St. 
Jean, on the road from Quatre Bras to 
Waterloo and Brussels. 

9. St. Helena, an island in the South Atlantic. 

1200 miles from the coast of Africa. 


THE FIELD OF WATERLOO . 1 

OTOP ! for thy tread is on an empire’s dust! 

^ An earthquake’s spoil is sepulchred below ! 

Is the spot marked with no colossal bust, 

Or column trophied for triumphal show ? 

None ; but the moral’s 2 truth tells simpler so. 

As the ground was before, thus let it be.— 

How that red rain hath made the harvest grow ! 

And is this all the world lias gained by thee, 

Thou first and last of fields ! king-making victory 1 

There was a sound of revelry by night, 3 
And Belgium’s capital 4 had gathered then 
Her Beauty and her Chivalry; and bright 
The lamps shone o’er fair women and brave men. 

A thousand hearts beat happily, and when 
Music arose with its voluptuous swell, 

Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again, 

And all went merry as a marriage bell; 

But hush ! hark ! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell ! 

“ Did ye not hear it 1 ”—“ No ; ’twas but the wind, 

Or the car rattling o’er the stony street; 

On with the dance ! let jov be unconfined ! 

No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet 
To chase the glowing Hours with flying feet.”— 

But, hark ! that heavy sound breaks in once more, 

As if the clouds its echo would repeat; 

And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before ! 

Arm ! Arm ! it is—it is—the cannon’s opening roar. 




216 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE III. 



WELLINGTON LEAVING THE BALL. 


All! then and there was hurrying to and fro, 

And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress; 
And cheeks all pale, which but an hour ago 
Blushed at the praise of their own loveliness. 

And there were sudden partings, such as press 
The life from out young hearts, and choking sighs 































THE FIELD OF WATERLOO. 


217 


Which ne’er might be repeated;—who could guess 
If ever more should meet those mutual eyes, 

Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise ? 

And there was mounting in hot haste; the steed, 

The mustering squadron, and the clattering car, 

Went pouring forward with impetuous speed, 

And swiftly forming in the ranks of war; 

And the deep thunder, peal on peal, afar! 

And near, the beat of the alarming drum 
Housed up the soldier ere the morning star; 

While thronged the citizens with terror dumb, 

Or whispering, with white lips,—“ The foe !—they come ! 
they come! ” 


And Ardennes 1 2 3 * 5 waves above them her green leaves, 
Dewy with Nature’s tear-drops, as they pass, 

Grieving, if aught inanimate e’er grieves, 

Over the unreturning brave—alas ! 

Ere evening to be trodden like the grass 
Which now beneath them, but above shall grow 
In its next verdure, when this fiery mass 
Of living valour, rolling on the foe, 

And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and low ! 

Last noon beheld them full of lusty life— 

Last eve in Beauty’s circle proudly gay, 

The midnight brought the signal-sound of strife— 

The morn, the marshalling in arms—the day, 

Battle’s magnificently stern array ! 

The thunder-clouds close o’er it, which, when rent, 

The earth is covered thick with other clay, 

Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and pent, 
Kider and horse—friend, foe—in one red burial blent! 


1. See page 211. 

2. Moral, the lesson to be learned from the 

scene. * 

3. The Duchess of Richmond gave a ball in 

Brussels on the night of the 15th of June 
1815. To it were invited the Duke of Wel¬ 

lington and the chief officers of the army. 
During the evening tidings came of Napo¬ 


leon’s advance, and one by one the officer* 
left the ball, to lead their soldiers to 
Quatre Bras. 

4 Belgium’s capital, Brussels, 
h. Ardennes, a great forest in the south of Bel¬ 
gium, of which the wood of Soignies be 
hind Waterloo was a part. 





2 l8 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE IV. 


THE EARLY YEARS OF THE GREAT PEACE. 




^ of George IV. 1 —A very 


J long period of peace fol- 
lowed tlie battle of Water- 
loo. It is true that Eng- 
i|| land had many little wars 
■|JS on the outskirts of her 
vast empire, but until the 
I Wm outbreak of the Crimean 
IB War ^ niay fairly be said 


to have enjoyed a period 


of profound tranquillity. 
George III. lived but four 
years after the great victory. 2 


GEORGE IV. 


He had been imbecile for many years, and the throne had 
been really filled by the Prince Regent, who now became 
George IV. The news of his death was, however, received 
with sincere regret. Men admired the purity of his life, 
which contrasted favourably with that of his successor; 
they pitied his misfortunes, for, whatever his errors, they 
were also those of the great body of Englishmen. 

In the new era which now commenced the personal 
character of the sovereign had less direct effect upon 
the government of the country. Accordingly, little need 
be said on what, in the case of George IV., is an 
unpleasant subject. This prince had a certain charm of 
manner, and much reckless generosity. He was, however, 
quite selfish and destitute of mental ability; yet he 
was called by his admirers the finest gentleman in 
Europe. In ridiculing this misnomer, 3 Thackeray finely 







THE EARLY YEARS OF THE GREAT PEACE. 219 


says 4 —“ Wliat is it to be a gentleman ? Is it to have 
lofty aims, to lead a pure life, to keep your honour vir¬ 
gin ; to have the esteem of your fellow-citizens, and the 
love of your fireside; to bear good fortune meekly; to 
suffer evil with constancy; and through evil as good to 
maintain truth always ? ” Not one of these qualities 
did this king possess; but showed himself in every 
respect utterly unworthy of the loyalty and admiration 
which were so lavishly wasted upon him. 

A Changed England.—While the Constitution re¬ 
mained as it had been at the beginning of the Hano¬ 
verian dynasty, England had undergone a great change 
during the long reign of George III.,—a change as 
great as any since the Norman conquest. 

In the first place, Britain had become a manufacturiny 
country, and was no longer agricultural. The invention 
of the steam-engine by Watt 5 was followed by a great 
series of improvements 6 both in machinery and in 
means of transport. This gave an immense stimulus 
to industry. The country was everywhere opened up 
by canals and roads, and the great body of the people 
became gathered together in towns instead of being 
spread over country districts. While the improvements 
in manufactures did immense good to the country as a 
whole, they for a time lessened the gains of many 
artisans—for these men now became unskilled labourers, 
and were able to earn only very small wages. These 
injured workmen feeling their daily bread in danger, 
were naturally excited against the men who introduced 
the new order of things, and went about the country in 
bands to destroy the hated machines. 7 

Other changes still further tended to deprive the 
poorer classes of employment and bread. Of these the 


220 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE IV. 


greatest was the peace. Notwithstanding the heavy 
burdens which the war entailed, it had been most favour¬ 
able to British commerce. Manufacturing could not be 
carried on securely in continental countries which were 
liable to hostile invasion, and which were in turn the 
theatres of a destructive war. In England there was 
no interruption more serious than a riot; while our 
command over the seas caused all the carrying trade 
of Europe to be in our hands, and the enormous 
demand for material gave a temporary stimulus 
both to trade and agriculture. 

At the peace, governments and peoples found 
themselves heavily burdened with debt; they 
^ therefore lessened their expenditure as 
much as possible. Foreign countries 
resumed manufacturing; and, 
even where they did not do so 
to any large extent, they had 
destroyed many of the 
sources of their wealth, 
and thus were not able 
to purchase lamely. 

THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE (See note 6, p. 222). ~ J 

Consequently there was 
less demand for various commodities and the poor pro¬ 
ducers suffered greatly. The price of corn declined, 
both because foreign nations began to send in supplies, 
and because the demand was less. This involved the 
farmers (who were paying enormous rents), and through 
them the agricultural labourers, in ruin. 

The Beginning of Reform : Catholic Emancipation. 
—The wide-spread suffering, stimulated by the spirit of 
improvement which was so busy on all sides, raised a 
universal cry for political reform. At first, the Ministrv 


















THE EARLY YEARS OF THE GREAT PEACE. 


221 


sought to crush this demand for change by a strongly re¬ 
pressive policy. Thus when great meetings assembled in 
various parts of the country the Government dispersed 
them by military force, 8 made no attempt to inquire into 
the popular grievances, and strove by the most extreme 
measures to trample out the prevailing discontent. 

A change for the better took place in 1822, when 
two enlightened statesmen, Canning 9 and Huskisson, 
joined the Ministry. Huskisson became President of 
the Board of Trade, and his measures paved the way for 
free trade. Restrictions which hampered the wool and 
silk trades were removed; the Navigation Laws, 10 de¬ 
signed to protect British shipping but really injurious 
to the commerce of the country, were so far reduced as 
to be practically abolished. Canning, a man of a large 
and enlightened nature, may be said to have been the 
moving spirit in these improvements. He was the chief 
agent in securing the independence of Greece, 11 and 
warmly advocated the relief of the Catholic population 
of the empire from the disadvantages under which they 
laboured. It shows how powerful the reforming spirit 
had become, when we find the Duke of Wellington (who 
had been opposed to all innovation) compelled to accept 
the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts . 12 

Complete Catholic Emancipation 13 was not long de¬ 
layed, nor could it be. In Ireland the agitation grew 
more and more intense, the “Catholic gentry, peas¬ 
antry, and priesthood, were all combined in one vast 
confederacy.” Daniel O’Connell, 14 “ the Liberator,” as his 
countrymen afterwards fondly called him, conducted the 
movement with considerable skill, and his passionate 
eloquence did much to persuade England as well as to 
stimulate the people of Ireland. The English Catholics 


222 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—GEORGE IV. 


had been the most loyal supporters of their king and 
country, and justice and expediency alike were on their 
side. The measure was effective enough when it did 
come, as it admitted Catholics to all the offices of civil 
employment . 15 The king made some feeble effort to 
delay the measure, but in this he was unsuccessful . 15 


1. George IV. reigned from 1820 to 1830. 

2. George III. died on tlie 29th of January 1820. 

3. Misnomer, a misnaming , i.e. t a wrong or 

misleading name. 

4. In the closing paragraph of his Essay on 

George IV. 

5. Watt. James Watt, the inventor of the 

steam-engine, was born in the year 173G at 
Greenock, on the river Clyde. His great 
discovery was made when he was only 
twenty-seven or twenty-eight years of age, 
viz., in 1764 or 1765. His discovery was 
really that of the separate condenser , not 
of the steam engine as a whole. 

6. Improvements. A few of these may be given 

here :—(1.) In 1768 Arkwright invented the 
spinning frame; (2.) In 1779 Crompton 
gave us the spinning mule; (3.) In 1784 
Cartwright invented the power loom ; (4.) 
In 1788 James Symington’s steamboat was 
placed on Dalswintou Lock, and in 1811 the 
Comet steamboat began to ply on the river 
Clyde ; (5.) In 1807 gas was used for street , 
lamps in Golden Lane, London; and (6.) 
in 1814 George Stephenson constructed the 
first locomotive steam-engine. 

7. These machine-breakers were called Luddites, 

from an idiot lad called Lud, who in 1780 
entered a cottage in a Leicestershire vil¬ 
lage and broke a frame. 

8. The greatest of these popular meetings was 

at Peterloo, near Manchester, August 16, 
1819. The military were without cause 
commanded to disperse the people ; many 
lives were lost, and the outrage was 


afterwards known as ‘the Peterloo 
massacre.’ 

9. Canning was Prime Minister from April to 
August 1827. 

10. The Navigation Laws. See p. 101, and note 

9, p. 87. 

11. Independence of Greece, assured by the 

victory of Navarino, when the combined 
English, French, and Russian fleets de¬ 
stroyed the combined Turkish and Egyptian 
navies. This took place in 1827. 

12. Test and Corporation Acts. See note 10, 

p. 105. They were repealed in May 1828, 
but only so as to relieve Protestant Dis¬ 
senters. 

13. Catholic Emancipation. The Bill was passed 

in April 1829. . 

14. Daniel O’Connell was the founder of the 

Catholic Association, and laboured for 
years to procure the repeal of all Acts 
prejudicial to Roman Catholicism. The 
passing of the Catholic Emancipation Bill 
in 1829 enabled him to sit in Parliament; 
and thereafter his grand project was the 
repeal of the Union between Ireland and 
England. 

15. The Crown can still only be held by a Pro¬ 

testant; the Lord Chancellor must be of 
the same religion. 

16. His health had been failing for many years, 

and eight months later he died. Three 
small wars took place in this reign: (1.1 
The Ashantee War (1824-26); (2.) Burmese 
War (1824-26); (3.) Destruction of the Turk¬ 
ish fleet (1827). 


























THE FERIOD OF THE GREAT REFORM BILL. 223 


THE PERIOD OF THE GREAT REFORM BILL. 



r . Accession of wmiam 

^ IV .: 1 Reasons for Re- 


form.—Many causes corn¬ 
el a binecl to make the new 
MW reign an era of progress. 
ISN 5 It was known that William 
jj?y| IV. was not averse to re- 
Wmff form, and this fact was of 
some importance in the 
^ajl final struggle. The Sailor 
1-—-J King, as he was called, was 
J very popular. He had been 
trained to the sea, and there 


WILLIAM IV. 


was something of the frank, impulsive generosity which 
we associate with the sailor character about him. 

It was natural that one great improvement should 
take precedence of all others, for if it were accomplished 
it would render all others possible. This was the 
Reform of the House of Commons , and the purpose was 
to make that assembly really represent the people of 
England. The necessity for such a change was very 
evident. The places which returned members had 
remained unaltered since the time of Charles II. 
Many old towns had decayed, but still their sites were 
entitled to representation; while the great centres of 
industry which had sprung up in the North were left 
without a voice in the legislature of the nation. The 
most glaring absurdities existed. One borough was “ a 
cluster of cottages round a venerable ruin; ” the waves 
of the North Sea had long rolled over another; a park, a 










224 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—WILLIAM IV. 


green mound, niches in a wall, returned members to 
Parliament; while many large cities had no repre¬ 
sentatives. Finally, those who had a right to vote had 
it on most various grounds, while the mass of the 
population of the country was totally unrepresented. 
The need of reform was thus most imperative. 

The Introduction of the Reform Bill. 2 —The three 
most prominent figures in the parliamentary struggle 



for reform are Lord Grey, Lord John Russell, and 
Lord Brougham. Grey , the Prime Minister, was now 
an old man; forty years before he had presented a 
petition to’ the Commons for the reform of Parliament. 
He was thus the survivor of the reformers of an earlier 
generation, and it was singularly appropriate that he 
should be chosen to lead the reformers of his own. 
And well fitted was he for the task: he was dignified, 





THE PERIOD OF THE GREAT REFORM BILL. 225 

patient, and courteous ; his personal character was high; 
while his ‘ lofty and animated eloquence ’ was well suited 
for a great subject and a noble assembly. Lord Brougham 
was an abler, but not so respected, a man. His talents 
were very various and very great, and lie only just missed 
the highest kind of eminence in many different fields. 
He became Lord Chancellor, but his legal knowledge 
seemed to be thrown into the shade by his other acquire¬ 
ments. Yet he did not leave any permanent mark 
on the history of his country, for he was vain and 
self-seeking and wanted high moral purpose. But at 
that time his reputation was at its height, and he gave 
himself up entirely to the bill. Of Lord Russell it has 
been well said, “ that he had strength of character and 
of will, and saw his way clearly before him/’ To him 
the bill was entrusted in the Commons. 

A general outline of this great measure should be 
known to all. In the first place, fifty-six rotten 
boroughs (as they were called) were completely swept 
away, and the representation of others was lessened. 
There were thus one hundred and forty-three seats free 
to be distributed to important places which either had 
not hitherto elected members of Parliament, or had not 
received their due share of the electing privilege. A 
few of these seats fell to Scotland and Ireland. 3 Finally, 
the franchise was made uniform over the whole of the 
country, and lowered so as to include a much larger 
section of the population. The right to vote was ac¬ 
cordingly given in towns to the householder paying £ 1 o 
or more of rent, in counties to leaseholders and tenants 
at will paying at least ^50 of rent. 

The Struggle for the Bill.—At first, the bill was re¬ 
jected by the Commons ; and Parliament was accordingly 

V 


( 4 ) 



226 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—WILLIAM IV. 


dissolved. In the new Parliament a great majority was 
returned in favour of the bill; and, after the most 
determined opposition, 4 it passed the Lower House, and 
was sent to the Upper House, where it was under the 
charge of Earl Grey. As may well be believed, there 
were many eloquent speeches made on the measure, but 
it was finally thrown out by the Lords. 5 

There was immediately great commotion in the country. 
In many towns muffled bells were rung; and some of the 
mansions- of the more obnoxious peers were burnt. The 
country was on the eve of revolution; and many spoke 
of refusing to pay taxes. Yet the great mass of the 
people remained quiet, firm, and determined, expressing 
their wishes in huge but orderly meetings, and by other 
legal methods. Their spirit is well shown in the lines of 
a stirring Union Hymn, very popular at the time :— 

“ God is our guide ! no swords we draw, 

We handle not war’s battle-fires; 

By union, justice, reason, law, 

We claim the birthright of our sires; 

We raise the watchword Liberty, 

We will, we will, we will be free ! ” 

The bill was again brought forward, and slowly but 
successfully fought its way once more through the House 
of Commons. In the Lords the opposition was not so 
serious as before, but the most sweeping changes were 
then made in the measure. Grey refused to allow 
this. His determination was well expressed in the popu¬ 
lar watchword of the period, ‘ The bill, the whole bill, 
and nothing but the bill .’ He then demanded that 
the king should create a sufficient number of peers to 
ensure the passing of the entire measure; and, when 
William IY. refused, the ministry resigned. Things 
now seemed approaching a crisis. The popular agita- 


THE PERIOD OF THE GREAT REFORM BILL. 227 



tion became worse than ever. The popularity of the 
sailor-king was completely gone. In vain the Duke 
of Wellington tried to form a ministry. The king was 
forced to recall his former ministers, and agreed to ap¬ 
point the required number of peers. The mere threat 
was enough, and the Lords allowed the bill to pass. 
The royal assent was given to it in June 1832. 

Reforms which followed the Great Bill.—The same 
reforming energy made itself felt in many beneficial 
changes which took place 
in the five remaining years 
of William’s reign. First 
in time and pre-eminent in 
merit comes the Emanci¬ 
pation of the Slaves —the 
noblest work of the re¬ 
formed Parliament. Mo¬ 
dern slavery stands con¬ 
demned on every possible 
ground. It is bad both 
for masters and slaves, for 
both are brutalised; it 
curses the very soil, never 
produces true prosperity, and is invariably followed by 
low morality and widespread poverty. 

Such facts are, after all, beside the question. A few 
noble men, chief among whom was Wilberforce , 6 im¬ 
pressed on the nation the great truth that slavery was a 
crime, and that it ought not to be allowed even in 
the remotest parts of the empire. Still there was the 
usual opposition of interested parties, and the planters 
made as much as possible of the tremendous loss which 
they were about to undergo, It was at length agreed 


WILBERFORCE. 




228 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY-WILLIAM IV. 


to give them A20,000,000 in compensation, and slavery 
was abolished throughout the British empire.' 

The same year a beginning was made with what 
were called the Factory Acts , the object of which was 
the protection of women and young people. At that 
time, women worked underground in coal mines and in 
the factories for many hours a day. The number of 
hours during which women and children could be em- 
ployed was by this measure fixed, and the attendance of 
the latter at school was made compulsory. 

A second great reform was the Act for the amendment 
of the Poor-Law system* Tn the reign of Elizabeth, it 
had been enacted that each parish should support its 
own poor. But, as there was no central authority, the 
law had come to be very looselv administered. Farmers 
gave very small wages to labourers, who then got relief; 
and thus the farmers really had their expenses paid by 
the parish. The Act now passed provided for the par¬ 
tial suppression of out-door relief, established a central 
authority, and lessened the expenses of administration. 
Its principles were that, whilst provision should be made 
to prevent actual starvation, care should be taken to 
prevent the idle and able-bodied from obtaining relief . 1 2 3 4 5 * * * 9 


1. William IV. reigned from 1830 to 1837. 

2. This was done by Lord John Russell in 1831. i 

3. By the bill of 1S32, England and Wales won¬ 

to have 500 members, Scotland 53, and Ire¬ 
land 105. 

4. It was debated in the House from June 24th 

to September 22d, 1831. 

5. It was thrown out by the Lords on October 

8th, on the second reading. 

0. Wilberforce. This noble philanthropist had 

obtained the suppression of the slave-trade 
in 1807; and now, after twenty years of 
unceasing effort, he succeeded in passing 

the bill for the abolition of slavery in the 
British Empire. 


7. The bill was passed in August 1834. 

8. This Act was passed in 1834. 

9. The king died at Windsor on the 20th of June 

1837. Among the minor measures passed 
during this reign the most important was 
the Municipal Corporation Act (passed in 
1835), reforming the self-government of 
boroughs. At this time the town councils 
were usually self-elected; and gave no 
proper account of the funds which they 
had under their control. Few reforms 
have been more needed or more beneficial 
than this, which substituted popular 
elected bodies for these corrupt corpora¬ 
tions. 


-— 



VICTORIA : THE HALCYON LAYS. 


229 


VICTORIA : THE HALCYON DAYS. 1 



'CESSION of the Queen. 2 
—In the early morning of 
June 20, 1837, when the 
short summer night had 
hardly as yet given way to 
dawn, a coach occupied by 
two high officials of state 
left Windsor Castle. It 
drove for several hours 
along the silent highway, 
and at five reached Ken¬ 
sington Palace. After 
victoria and albert. some delay, the two men 
were admitted; and, after much tedious waiting in one 
of the lower rooms, they were joined by a young girl, 
roused from her sleep, and hastily dressed to receive 
them. The two men knelt before her, and saluted her 
as Queen of Great Britain. They were the Archbishop 
of Canterbury and the Lord Chamberlain ; the girl of 
eighteen was Queen Victoria. 

A few hours afterwards, a formal council was held; 
and here, as elsewhere and afterwards, the dignified and 
quiet bearing of the new sovereign won the admiration 
of all who saw her. She had been carefully educated; 
and, while much was due to those who surrounded her 
in her early years, such education had been applied to 
an essentially royal and noble nature. 

With such a sovereign on the throne, the old senti¬ 
ment of loyalty took fresh force and new meaning. There 
was something of tenderness and romance in the feeling 














230 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—VICTORIA. 

with which the girl-queen was regarded. As years rolled 
on, these sentiments became brighter and stronger; for 
the royal household became the model of an English 
home, and the queen endeared herself to the hearts of 
her people. 

During this beneficent reign, the country has grown 
wealthier and more prosperous. Much of the progress 
of the nation has been due to the full application of 
natural forces to aid human effort. Electricity has, in 
a sense, annihilated time and space; the railway and 
long steam-voyage systems have received full develop¬ 
ment. The electric light has thrown a radiance, only 
inferior to sunlight, over the darkest night; and the 
telephone 3 now enables men to speak to one another 
over great distances. Greater things will yet be done, 
for Englishmen are ever pressing forward in the path 
of discovery, regarding the triumphs of the past as but 
an earnest of the achievements of the future. 

The Penny Post.—The story of the penny post is full 
of interest. Before 1839, the payments for postage 
were very irregular. To carry a letter from one part 
of a town to another cost 2d. ; and the average charge 
on every letter throughout the kingdom was a little 
more than 6d. A letter from London to Brighton cost 
8d.; from London to Aberdeen, is. 3d.; from London 
to Belfast, is. 4d. Further, members of Parliament 
had then the curious privilege of franking letters; that 
is to say, they signed their name on the outside, and 
then the letter went through the post free of charge. 

People resorted to all sorts of devices to obtain news 
of their relations and yet evade payment of the duty. 
A well-known story related by Coleridge 4 may serve 
as an illustration. He was once walking in a country 

a 


THE HALCYON DAYS. 


231 



|jsf 

Hi 

ML 

Jit! 


THE \OlNG QUEEN. 




















232 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—VICTORIA. 


district of England when a postman approached a cottage 
in which a woman lived, handed her a letter, and de¬ 
manded a shilling for postage. The woman took the 
letter, examined it carefully, declared that she could not 
pay the sum asked for, and returned the document to 
the postman. Coleridge now stepped forward and paid 
the money, although the woman objected to his doing so. 
The postman departed, the letter was opened, and found 
to contain a blank sheet ! The woman then explained 
that it was from her brother; and that the arrival of 
the letter was merely a sign agreed upon by which she 
might know that he was well. 

Rowland Hill , with whose name the penny post is 
inseparably associated, saw that there was something 
wrong in a system which produced results like these. 
He held that the fee should be greatly reduced ; and lie 
also maintained that it would be of incalculable benefit 
to trade if the postage were the same for all distances. 
After the usual amount of opposition, the scheme was 
carried, and has since received even greater extensions 
by the adoption of halfpenny postal cards 5 and the in¬ 
troduction of the parcels post . 6 

Repeal of the Corn Laws: Free Trade.—A still 
greater reform now calls for notice here—the change in 
the Corn Laics, and the adoption of the principle of Free 
Trade by the English government. 

As a country becomes more crowded, grain tends to 
rise in price, because it becomes more and more difficult 
to get the quantity required for the wants of the popula¬ 
tion. The rise does good at first to the farmers; but 
this causes so many people to try to get farms that rents 
go up, and thus the proprietors of land get the whole 
benefit of the increase in the price of food. Now there 


THE HALCYON DAYS. 


233 

is one way in which the rise in price can be pre¬ 
vented, and that is by large importations of foreign 
com from countries which are thinly peopled, where 
land is cheap and only the most fertile soils culti¬ 
vated. If such supplies continue, the price of corn 
falls, the farmers get less profits, and they soon pay 
very much less rents. Thus the proprietors are not 
so wealthy, but bread is cheaper. It is now universally 
agreed that it is better to let com come freely into 
a country, but it was not 
thought so then; and a 
law had been passed that 
wheat must be Soshillings 7 
a quarter before it could 
be admitted duty free. 8 

During the early years 
of the reign of Victoria, 
the people of England 
became slowly convinced 
that the Com Laws must 
be abolished. This con¬ 
viction was greatly due to 
a body called the Anti- 
Corn-Law League, 9 which had its headquarters at Man¬ 
chester, and from that city sent forth lecturers and 
speakers to all parts of the kingdom. Some of the more 
eminent members of the League got into Parliament, 
and their presence there was naturally of much benefit 
to their cause. 

Of these men, Richard Cobden and John Bright were 
the most remarkable. Of Cobden, it has been said, 
that he persuaded by convincing. He was transparently 
sincere, and the light of an earnest spirit shone through 





234 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—VICTORIA. 


his speeches. He had travelled and observed much, 
and he was ever ready to drive home a statement by 
some apt illustration or happy phrase. Bright was more 
of an orator than his fellow-worker. There was senti¬ 
ment and imagination as well as argument in his speeches, 
and his voice had tones of scorn, pathos, humour, and 
passion in it that powerfully affected his hearers. Both 
men were very outspoken and direct, and even their 
bitterest opponents felt that they had no selfish or per¬ 
sonal ends to serve in what 
they did. 

At last Sir Robert Peel, 10 
who had come into office 
pledged to support the 
Corn Laws, first acknow¬ 
ledged that he was a Free 
Trader in theory, and then 
confessed that he had been 
persuaded by Cobden’s 
arguments that the Corn 
Laws ought to be abolished. 
uiiiGHT. A measure to this effect was 

accordingly introduced by the minister himself, and be¬ 
came law in 1846, amid the heartfelt joy of the masses 
of the people, but in spite of the determined opposition 
of Peel’s former supporters. 

The policy of free trade—that is, of allowing all kinds 
of goods to come freely into the country—was now ap¬ 
plied to a number of other articles. The sugar duties 
were equalised, and the navigation laws were abo¬ 
lished. The result has been that, as the English take the 
goods of other nations freely, they find it of real advantage 
to trade with them, and that Britain has become more and 

a 





THE HALCYON DAYS. 


235 


more the commercial centre of the world. The greater 
part of the carrying trade of the globe has also centred 
in England from the same cause, and London is now the 
exchange of all nations. 

The Irish Famine of 1845. —This national disaster 
did much to force the question of free trade in corn to 
a final issue. In Ireland a state of things had arisen in 
which the great mass of the peasantry had as their only 
food the potato. The evil of this system was made 
terribly apparent in the autumn of 1845, when it was 
found that the crop which had been so wholly depended 
upon was a complete failure. It was evident to all 
that suffering would fall upon the miserable people, and 
that the tax upon grain could only serve to increase the 
already intolerable burden of want and wretchedness. 
The reality teas worse than the saddest anticipation ! 

Famine, and the diseases which followed in its wake, 
seized hold of a great part of Ireland. Men died 
everywhere — in remote huts, on the mountains, on 
roads along which they were painfully crawling in 
search of relief, in the streets of towns which they had 
reached in vain. As shopkeepers came to open their 
shop-doors in the morning they found corpses stiff and 
stark on the doorstep. In some places, coroners “ de¬ 
clared it impossible to keep on holding inquests, and the 
parochial authorities at last declined to put the rate¬ 
payers to the expense of coffins for the too frequent dead.” 

As if famine was not enough, unheard-of diseases came 
—famine-fever, a terrible kind of dysentery, 11 and other 
maladies, killed multitudes. The landlords in many 
places were ruined. They let their once stately abodes 
to be used as poorhouses. The whole structure of Irish 
society collapsed. The country was drained by emigra- 

a 


236 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—VICTORIA. 


tion, and the population has gone on decreasing ever 
since. However bad the state of the Irish peasantry 
of to-day, it is not nearly so hopeless as before the 
famine, and we may perhaps yet date the regeneration 
of Ireland from that terrible event. 

Albert the Good.—In 1840 the Queen was married 
to her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha. 12 
The Prince Consort was a man of conscientious and high 
character, and of a deliberate and thoughtful nature, 
whose whole aim in life was the happiness of the Queen 
and her country. Through much unpopularity and 

calumny, he with 
unswerving rec¬ 
titude pursued 
the straight path 
of duty ; and 
thus, when he 
died, 13 the mani¬ 
festations of a 
nation’s grief 
were far too true 
and profound to have been the mere conventional expres¬ 
sions of courtly sorrow. Prince Albert identified himself 
with no political party ; but devoted his attention to use¬ 
ful social reforms , which commended themselves to all. 

One of the most noteworthy of these schemes was 
that which resulted in the erection of the wonderful 
fabric of glass and iron, which is known in history as 
the Great Exhibition 0/1851. On the 1 st of May in 
that year the Exhibition was opened. Within the 
spacious building, 30,000 people were assembled. 
Vast crowds lined the streets through which the pro¬ 
cession that opened the * world’s fair ’ passed. In this 



THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 









THE HALCYON HAYS. 


237 


magnificent display of the c triumphs of peace,’ English¬ 
men enjoyed the opportunity of seeing specimens of the 
industry of all nations . 14 

Some men thought that the Great Exhibition would 
begin an era of universal peace. Britain had so long 
enjoyed tranquillity that a new generation had arisen to 
whom war was a mere story. It seemed to man}'' that 
so irrational a method of settling disputes could not 
again be brought into use; that nations which had 
beaten their swords into ploughshares would be too wise 
to reverse the process. This dream was soon proved 

to be a vain one: for alreadv forces were at work 

* */ 

which plunged the country into a struggle with the 
great Empire of Russia. 


1. Halcyon Days, i.e., the seventeen years of 
ju act before the Crimean war. The phrase 
is derived from the pretty fable that the 
halcyon or kingfisher brought forth its 
young upon the sea, and that the waves 
were tranquil during the time of its 
breeding. 

*2 . The Queen. For the descent of Her Majesty 
see the table on p. 177. 

« Telephone, an instrument for reproducing 
sound, especially the sound of the human 
voice, at a distance by means of electri¬ 
city. The word means, 4 the far or distant 
sound.* 

4. Coleridge, i.e., the poet S. T. Coleridge. 

5 . Halfpenny Postal Cards came into use on 

October 1. 1870. 

6. Parcels Post, introduced in August 1883 

by the Postmaster-General, Professor Faw¬ 
cett. 

7. In 1815. This price for wheat was a most 

extravagant one. 

9. Anti-Corn-Law League, foiyided on March 
20, 1839. 

10. Sir Robert Peel, a leading Tory statesman 
and minister. He first took office in 1812, 
and, after long opposing the measure, he 
himself proposed and carried the Catholic 
Emancipation Bill in 1829. He became 
Prime Minister in 1841. and by his action 
in passing the Act for the Abolition of the 
Corn Laws, he lost favour with his party. 


and was obliged to retire. He died in 

1850. 

11. Dysentery, a disease of the en trails or bowels. 

attended with pain and a discharge of 
mucus and blood. 

12. Saxe-Coburg Gotha, a small German state, 

round the head-waters of the Werra. 

13. He died in 1861. 

14. A very large number of similar exhibitions 

have since been held in imitation of Pii .co 
Albert’s great and useful project. 

8. In 1828, the principle of ‘ a sliding scale’ was 
intr« duced; this was modified in 1846. 
What is meant will be understood from 


the following tables:— 


Sliding Scale of 1828. 

Sliding Scale of 1846. 

Wheat at 50s. paid 20s. 
of duty. 

Wheat at 55s. paid 17s. 
of duty. 

Wheat at tins, paid 12s. 
of duty. 

Wheat at 70s. paid 5s. 
of duty. 

Wheat at 75s. or more 
paid Is. of duty. 

Wheat under 48s. paid 
10s. of duty. 

Wheat at 49s. paid 9s. 
of duty. 

Wheat at 50s. paid 8s. 
of duty. 

Wheat at 51s. paid 7s. 
of duty. 

Wheat at 52s. paid 6s. 
of duty. 

Wheat at 53s. paid 5s. 
of duty. 

Wheat at 54s. and up¬ 
wards paid of 

duty. 




















238 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—VICTORIA. 


THE CRIMEAN WAR: THE INDIAN MUTINY. 

iUSES of the War. 1 — 

Russia had for about a cen¬ 
tury been rapidly extending 
herself, 2 and it was natural 
that she should press on the 
fertile provinces which the 
Turk misgoverned. More¬ 
over, a majority of the in¬ 
habitants of the Turkish 
provinces were Christians 
of the Greek Church, and 
they naturally looked to the 
Czar for protection. 3 Mean¬ 
while, England believed 
that her interests required the maintenance of the Turkish 
power, for both the way to India 4 and India itself would 
be imperilled if Russia occupied that empire. 

Several other causes operated at this particular time. 
The Czar Nicholas was a scheming and ambitious man, 
filled with plans as to the disposal of the Turkish 
dominions. On the other hand, Napoleon III., who 
had lately made himself Emperor of the French, 5 wanted 
to enter into a great war in alliance with one of the 
European powers, which would divert the minds of the 
French people from home affairs. He found his opportu¬ 
nity in a discussion as to the right of custody of the 
Holy Places in Palestine, which had been a question in 
dispute between the Greek and Latin Churches, 6 of which 
Nicholas and Napoleon were the armed representatives. 
Finally Russia had a dispute with Turkey as to the 



THE CRIMEAN WAR. 


239 


protection of the Christian subjects of the Porte, .and 
declared war against her. England then demanded that 
Russia should desist from hostilities and withdraw from 
certain Turkish provinces which she had occupied. Russia 
refused, and war was immediately declared. 

The Siege of Sebastopol: Battle of the Alma.—The 
great event 7 of this war was the invasion of the Crimea . 8 
The Allies determined to attack Sebastopol , then the great 
arsenal of Russia at the south-west point of the Crimean 
Peninsula, and the chief station of the Black Sea fleet. 
North of the fortress, the river Alma enters the sea, and 
still farther north is the port of Eupatoria 9 on Kalamita 
Bay. From this 
point, in September 
1854, an army of 
60,000, consisting 
chiefly of French and 
English, 10 was direc¬ 
ted to march on the 
Russian stronghold. 

The first great bat¬ 
tle was fought on the 
Alma , 11 which the 
invaders had to cross 
on their march. The 
Russians occupied the heights on the south of the river. 
Their position was a strong one; but their leader, 
believing it to be unassailable, neglected the commonest 
precautions, and did not even destroy the bridges across 
the river. This was really a soldier s battle; for the 
men simply charged at the heights and succeeded in 
carrying them by sheer fighting. 

The Russian army fell back in confusion; and, find- 






240 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—VICTORIA. 


ing the task of driving the invaders into the sea harder 
than had been expected, they now resolved to throw 
as many obstacles in the advance of the Allies as pos¬ 
sible. The victorious army unfortunately did not follow 
up their success with promptitude; had they done so, 
Sebastopol might have fallen. 

Balaclava and Inkerman.—The Allies then marched 
past Sebastopol, and established themselves at the south¬ 
ern port of Balaclava. From this point they made an 
unsuccessful attack upon the fortress by land and sea, 
but the Russians had made excellent use of the weeks 
of delay, 12 and the town was now almost impregnable. 
The besiegers were, in their turn, attacked by an over¬ 
whelming body of Russians. Then was fought ‘ the 
terrible battle of Balaclava , 13 

This fierce contest was rendered famous by many 
a brave deed. The Russians had swept the Turks before 
them, and were breaking in upon the very heart of the 
British position, when the gallant 93d Highlanders, led 
by Sir Colin Campbell, faced the solid mass in a double 
line; and, unaided by artillery, brought the foe to a 
stand with the rifle alone. At another moment of that 
eventful day, the Heavy Brigade 14 cut their way through 
a dense body of Russian cavalry thrice their number. 

But the deed of greatest daring was that famous 
exploit known in song and story as the “ Charge of the 
Light Brigade.” An order was given to a body of six 
hundred and seven horsemen to attack the guns of the 
enemy. To reach them it was necessary to pass over 
a plain a mile and a-half long, flanked on both sides 
by the Russian guns. Some one had blundered ! who 
or how was never exactly known; but the undaunted 
baod rushed forward oil thpip piission of dpath. 


THE CRIMEAN WAR. 



Tlie heroic soldiers accomplished their task. They suc¬ 
ceeded in silencing the fatal guns. But only one hundred 
and ninety-eight returned ; the rest lay dead or wounded 
on the fatal plain. Eleven days later, 15 the Russians made 
another desperate attack at Inlcerman. The assault was 
made in the early morning, and was meant to be a surprise. 


CHARGE OF THE HEAVY BRIGADE. 

Accordingly, the battle was fought almost in the dark, and 
was gained rather by the courage of the soldiers than the 
skill of their leaders. Never was the valour of the men 
shown to greater advantage. For the entire day, eight 
thousand British troops and six thousand of their brave 
allies held the heights against sixty thousand of the foe. 
( 4 ) a S 



242 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—VICTORIA. 


The Sufferings in the Trenches: Close of the War. 

—After this battle, the trenches were opened against 
Sebastopol, and the army settled down to pass the winter 
as best it could. It was then that the soldiers felt to 
the full the horrors of war. The weather was terrible 
—wind and rain and sleet and snow; the malignity 
of nature as well as the enmity of man assailed the 
devoted band. Even their friends failed them—the 
men suffered terribly from want of food and clothing. 

Parties that were at work 
in the trenches returned 
worn out to the camp, 
only to find the shelter 
of the tents destroyed by 
a hurricane, and the en¬ 
campment one great mo¬ 
rass. Then cholera came 
and claimed its victims, 
for there was a want of 
medical stores at the pro¬ 
per places, and the hospi¬ 
tals were in a wretched 
condition. All this created 
terrible indignation in England; 16 but the story of Eng¬ 
lish suffering had a noble result, for it induced Florence 
Nightingale and a band of Englishwomen to hurry to the 
scene of war; and their good sense and energy, and indeed 
their very presence, soon worked a complete change for 
the better in the surroundings of the sick and wounded. 

At length, after nearly a year’s siege, and after having 
sustained successfully many hostile attacks, the Russian 
garrison withdrew from Sebastopol. The Allies entered 
and took possession, but found only a heap of ruins. 

a 



FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. 





THE INDIAN MUTINY. 


243 


The war was now practically over; and after a 
few months spent in negotiations, a treaty of peace 
was signed at Paris. 17 The main point was an agree¬ 
ment by the Great Powers 18 to respect the independence 
of Turkey, and a promise on the part of the Sultan 
to grant equal rights to his Christian subjects. Both 
Russia and Turkey were forbidden to put ships of war 
into the Black Sea. 19 These seem to be small results for 
so great a struggle; and the interest of the expedition 
for us now is chiefly in the proof it afforded of the valour 
and endurance of English soldiers. 

The Indian Mutiny. 20 —That valour and endurance 
was soon again put to the proof, for in the next year a 
terrible mutiny broke out in India. The mere fact that 
there the English were outnumbered in the proportion 
of two thousand to one, and that they differed from the 
people in race and religion, rendered an outbreak pos¬ 
sible at any time. Further, they had a large military 
force of natives, and the losses in the Crimea had been 
so magnified among the credulous population that the 
power of England was believed to be on the wane. 

Now it so happened that at this very time, greased 
cartridges were served out to the sepoys, 21 and the grease 
was said to be a mixture of cow and hog fat. In the 
days of the muzzle-loader the soldier had to bite the 
cartridge. But the native army was composed partly 
of Hindus and partly of Mahommedans; and neither of 
these races could touch the cartridges without being 
defiled; 22 for the cow is sacred to the former, while the 
hog was an unclean beast to the latter. In vain, it 
was explained to the discontented soldiers that they were 
mistaken ; the excitement daily increased. 

Outbreaks took place in various places; and, at length, 

a 


244 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—VICTORIA. 


on Sunday, May loth, the native troops at Meerut 
mutinied. 23 When driven from that city, they fled to 
Delhi, 24 thirty-eight miles to the south-west. There the 
mutineers were at once joined by the Sepoys in the city 
and the neighbourhood. The mutiny had now fairly com¬ 
menced. By meeting it in time, the Punjab, that great 
district to the north-west of India, was saved ; but at 
Lucknow , 25 Sir Henry Lawrence was shut up in the 
British Residency, and forced to endure a siege. 

The most dreadful scene of the whole insurrection 



After a brave defence, the garrison were induced to lay 
down their arms by the promises of the notorious Nana 
Sahib, who, while pretending to be a friend of the 
English, was in reality their deadliest foe. This mis¬ 
creant promised a safe passage down the river to Alla¬ 
habad ; but no sooner had the unarmed party left the 
cover of the Residency, and entered the boats, than they 
were assailed with a furious fire. 

The men were all killed; 27 and the women and 















THE INDIAN MUTINY. 245 

children, almost dead with terror, were thrust into a 
narrow prison. Here, while Havelock and his men 
were pressing forward to the rescue, five armed men 
were sent among the captives. Those outside listened 
and shuddered, for the evening silence was broken by 
the death-shrieks of the unhappy victims. The next 
day, the whole of the bodies were thrown into a well 
in the courtyard, although some of the children were not 
even yet dead. 28 

Soon after the English soldiers arrived, routed the 
forces which the Nana 
had collected, entered the 
city, but found none of 
their own race to greet 
them. They looked down 
into that ‘well of horrors,’ 
they entered that chamber 
of death and were kindled 
into fury by the proofs of 
the terrible tragedy which 
met their eyes. 

We need not trace in 
detail the series of suc¬ 
cessful movements by SIR HKNRY havelock. 

which the mutiny was finally crushed. First, after a 
long siege, Delhi fell before a daring assault; and, five 
days later, Havelock relieved Lucknow. He was imme¬ 
diately surrounded by an enormous multitude of the 
enemy, but was easily able to hold out till November 17, 
when he was in turn relieved by Sir Colin Campbell. 
It was thought best at the time to withdraw from the 
position; and when this had been safely effected on 
•March 19, 1858, the rebellion was practically over. 29 



246 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—VICTORIA, 


Even yet it is impossible for us, who at some distance 
of time read the records of this mutiny, not to be filled 
with grief and rage at the story. The people at home 
were moved as perhaps . men in England never had 
been before. Men shuddered as they thought of the 
outrages committed upon delicate women and tender 
children; and a wild, unceasing cry for vengeance arose. 
It was to the credit of the highest men in India that 
they set their faces for justice, not revenge. The 
Governor - General was sneeringly called ‘ Clemency ’ 
Canning, but the name will not now be considered 
a reproach. 

An important change in the government of India was 
brought about by the mutiny. The East India Company 
was abolished and India put completely under the con¬ 
trol of the crown—a change in every way for the better. 


1. War was declared on the 28th of March 1854; 

it lasted for two years, the treaty of peace 
being signed at Paris March 30, 1856. 

2. This was said to be in accordance with the 

will of Peter the Great, which pointed the 
Russians onwards to Constant inople in the 
south-west, and to India in the south-east. 

3. The three great forms of Christianity are (1) 

the Latin or Catholic Church ; (2) The 
Greek Church; (3) The Protestant Church. 
The Czar of Russia is head of the Greek 
Church. 

4. Way to India, by the overland or Mediter¬ 

ranean route. This was, of course, before 
the time of the Suez Canal. The fear was 
that if Russia were allowed to seize Turkey, 
or even Constantinople, she would be able 
to reach India by a shorter route than that 
round the Cape of Good Hope, which Bri¬ 
tain would require to use. 

5. Emperor of the French. A t hird Revolution 

took place in France in 1848, and Louis Na¬ 
poleon was made President of the Republic. 
In 1851 he was declared President for ten 
years, and in 1852 he was proclaimed Em¬ 
peror of the French. 

C>. Greek and Latin Churches. See note 3 above. 

7. We sent, it is true, a fleet into the Baltic 
under Sir Charles Napier which accom¬ 
plished nothing, as there was nothing very 
definite that it could do. Then there was 
the defence of Silistria and Kars by Turks 
and Englishmen against the Russians. 


But these were side matters; the very 
conflict was known, not as the Russian, 
but as the Crimean war. 

8. Crimea, the Russian Peninsula in the north 

of the Black Sea. 

9. Eupatoria, a Russian seaport on the west 

coast of the Crimea, 50 miles north of Se¬ 
bastopol. 

10. The French under Marshal St. Arnaud, the 

British under Lord Raglan. 

11. The Alma, fought on September 20, 1854. 

12. The Allies had landed on the 14tli of Sep¬ 

tember, and this attack was made on the 
17tli of October. 

13. Balaclava, fought on October 25, 1854. 

14. The Heavy Brigade, i.e., the heavy cavalry. 

The regiments engaged represented the 
Rose, the Shamrock, and the Thistle, for 
they were the English Dragoon Guards, 
the Irish Enniskillens, and the Scots 
Greys. 

15. On November 5. 

16. It caused the overthrow of the Duke of New¬ 

castle’s Ministry, and Lord Palmerston 
became Prime Minister. 

17. See note 1 above. 

18. The Great Powers, t.e., Prussia, Russia, 

Austria, France, and Britain. To these 
Italy has since been added. 

19. Russia obtained the abolition of the order 

against its Black Sea fleet in 1871, during 
the Franco-Prussian war. 

20. The Indian Mutiny broke out at Meerut, to 




AFRICAN WARS SINCE THE MUTINY. 


247 


the north of Delhi, on the 10th of May 1857, 
by the 3d Bengal Cavalry's attack on the 
prison; it may be said to have ended with 
the capture of Bareilly on May 7,1858. 

Sepoys (from the Hindu sipahi, a bowman), 
the native soldiers of our Indian army. 

The Hindu would have lost caste, that is, 
have become an outcast from the class of 
society to which he belonged. 

See note 20. 


24. Delhi, a great city on the river Jumna. 

25. Lucknow, a great city on the Ganges, tha 

capital of the kingdom of Oudh. 

26. Cawnpore, a sacred city, south-west of 

Lucknow, on the Ganges. 

27. One or two were imprisoned with the women, 

but they were murdered before the others. 

28. September 20,1857. 

29. See note 20 above. 


AFRICAN WARS SINCE THE MUTINY. 


T HE Abyssinian War.—Although, since the Crimean 
war, England has not been engaged in conflict with 
any European power, yet the vast extent of her empire 
brings her into contact with semi-civilised or savage 
nations, and exposes her to almost continual struggles— 
small it may be, but very troublesome, and calling forth 
the highest qualities of the British army. 

The first of these 1 which need be mentioned here is 
the famous Abyssinian Expedition of the year 1868. 2 
That country is, as you know, a very mountainous region 
in the north-east of Africa, and lying near to the entrance 
of the Red Sea. Its half-savage king, Theodore, having, 
in a fit of sulky passion , 3 seized upon the British consul 
and several English subjects, refused to liberate them. 

Accordingly, a force of twelve thousand fighting 
men 4 was sent from Bombay under the command of 
Sir Robert Napier. The campaign proved a very re¬ 
markable one—not for the fighting which was done, but 
for the skill and discipline of the march. The army 
had to advance three hundred and twenty miles through 
an unknown region filled with vast perpendicular rocks 
and precipitous ravines. The whole achievement was 
an unequalled engineering triumph; at one time, hills 
which blocked up the way had to be blown up with gun- 

a 




248 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—VICTORIA. 

powder ; at another, a narrow ledge had to be cut along 
the face of the mountain wall 5 to afford a footing for 
the beasts of burden. Every foot of the inarch was a 
struggle between the forces of Nature and the perse¬ 
vering skill of man, in which the latter was ultimately 
victorious. 

At last Magdala , 6 the stronghold of the tyrant, was 
reached and taken by storm . 7 Before the final assault, 
the captives had been set free ; and the baffled king 
was so disappointed at the defeat of his soldiers that he 
killed himself in despair. The victorious leader of the 
British troops was afterwards raised to the peerage as 
Baron Napier of Magdala . 

The Ashantee Expedition.—Five years later , 8 the 
conduct of another African despot forced England to 
send out a second expedition. This time the troops, led 
by the now famous Sir Garnet Wolseley , 9 had to enter 
the unhealthy region north of the Gold Goast . 10 Their 
object was to punish the savage negro king of Ashantee , n 
who had without provocation invaded British territory, 
and interfered with the trade of neighbouring tribes 12 — 
allies of England, and under its protection. 

After four days’ fighting and marching—an advance 
nearly as difficult as that of the Abyssinian war, for 
the troops had to contend with intense tropical heat, a 
pestilential climate, an almost impenetrable jungle , 13 
and a brave but barbarous foe—the capital, Coomassie, u 
was taken and destroyed. By this means the British 
power in West Africa was more firmly established, and 
not only the conquered king himself, but the other 
native tyrants of the district, compelled to abstain 
for the future from interference with their more in¬ 
dustrious and peaceful neighbours. 


a 


AFRICAN WARS SINCE THE MUTINY. 


249 


Wars in South Africa.—While one part of the 
army was fighting in the highlands of Afghanistan, 
another portion was engaged on the northern frontiers of 
our South African colony of Natal. England had been 
persuaded to annex the Transvaal Republic, an immense 
and little known Dutch 15 state to the north-west of 
our nearest possessions. It was thought in this country 
that this had been done with the consent of the people, 
but this seems not to have been the case, and the whole 
transaction proved a costly and dangerous one. The 
Boers, 10 as they are called, were at the time engaged in 
a bitter dispute with Cetewayo, the king of Zululand , 17 
concerning a strip of territory between the two countries. 
In this, the natives were undoubtedly in the right; but 
the English authorities in the colony assumed the Boer 
cause along with the annexation of their land. 

The Zulu monarch was therefore ordered to disband 
his army and break up his military organisation. Ho 
returned no answer to this mandate; and, accordingly, a 
British army of 13,000 men, under Lord Chelmsford, 
crossed the river Tugela 18 to enforce compliance. The 
plan of operation was that four columns should move 
from different points of the frontier and converge towards 
Ulundi , the African leaders’ capital or kraal. ls) 

The expedition soon met with a dreadful disaster. 
The officers and men alike seem to have despised their 
savage foes and acted without due caution; but they 
now found how formidable was the enemy they had to 
encounter. Ten days after crossing the Tugela, Lord 
Chelmsford led the greater part of his column out of 
camp at Isandula , 20 leaving a force of IOOO men behind 
him to act as guard. The officer in command had either 
been careless or was tempted out of his position. At 

a 


250 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—VICTORIA. 

all events, when the main body returned they found 
that the Zulus had destroyed the camp and slaughtered 
the defenders. The entire force might have been cut 
off and Natal invaded, had it not been for the heroic 
defence at Rorkes Drift 21 by I oo men under Lieu¬ 
tenants Chard and Bromhead. That gallant little band 



DEFENCE OF RORKE’s DRIFT. 

kept at bay during a whole night, and finally defeated 
some thousands of the savage enemy. 

So alarmed and indignant were the English people at 
the disaster which had befallen the army, that Sir Garnet 
Wolseley, the hero of the Ashantee war, was sent out to 
take command; but, before he arrived, Lord Chelmsford 


AFRICAN WARS SINCE THE MUTINY. 


251 


had nobly retrieved liis reputation by the decisive victory 
of Ginyhilova and the overwhelming defeat of the Zulu 
king at Ulundi, 22 Cetewayo’s power was now completely 
broken, and he himself soon afterwards captured. 23 He 
was then dethroned, and his kingdom broken up into 
thirteen separate sections. 

Two other native kings 24 had to be suppressed before 
peace was restored to England’s African possessions. 
Hardly had this been done, when the worst consequence 
of the hasty annexation of the Transvaal showed itself. 
Having beon freed by British arms from their most 
dangerous foes, they declared that they had never con¬ 
sented to the union with Britain. They accordingly rose in 
rebellion, and re-proclaimed their republic. These Boers 
are coarse but very brave men, accustomed from childhood 
to the rough life of herdsmen and hunters. Accordingly, 
they are almost to a man skilled marksmen, and in 
the wild country which they know so well are most 
formidable foes. Thus they defeated with great slaughter 
the British troops under General Colley at Majnba 
Hill™ When the sad news reached England, General 
Roberts, the victor of Candahar, was sent out with 
reinforcements and to take command. However, to 
the disappointment of the exasperated soldiers and of 
many people at home, peace was made before he had 
the opportunity of striking a blow at the enemy. 

The Government virtually acknowledged that they 
had been misled in i-egard to the annexation of the 
Transvaal, and the Boers regained their independence. 
Since that time, to complete the reversal of our former 
policy, the Zulu king has been restored to a portion of 
his former power. From beginning to end the disturb¬ 
ances in South Africa are the most unfortunate of the 

a 


252 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—VICTORIA. 


foreign troubles that have disturbed Britain since the 
Crimean war. One sad occurrence may be mentioned 
here as typical of the whole series of blunders. Prince 
Louis Napoleon, the only son of the fallen Napoleon III., 
joined our army during the Zulu war as a volunteer. 
He went out to make a reconnaissance 20 with a few 
men ; the party were, while resting, surprised by the 
Zulus; the rest escaped, but the unfortunate Prince was 
unable to remount his horse, 2 ' and was killed, fighting 
to the last with his face to the foe. 


1 . This passes over the renewal of the Chinese 

war, which was closed by the Treaty of 
Pekin in 1860. 

2. The pioneers of the expedition landed in the 

beginning of October 1867. 

3. Sulky passion, either because the Queen had 

not answered according to his liking a let¬ 
ter which his sable majesty had sent to 
her, or because the British Consul, Mr. 
Cameron, had visited some provinces 
friendly to Egypt, and thus excited the 
suspicion of the passionate king. 

4. So great were the difficulties of transport 

that the total force under Napier’s com¬ 
mand amounted to about 26,000. 

5. They had to carry all their supplies of food, 

&c., with them. The cannon were carried 
on the backs of elephants. 

6 . Magdala, a fortress built on the summit of a 

steep hill in the very heart of the moun¬ 
tains to the south of Abyssinia. 

7. The fortress was stormed on the Pith April I 

1868. 


14. Coomassie, capital of Ashantee, on the river 

Dah. 

15. That is, peopled by descendants of the 

original Dutch settlers. They had at first 
lived in Cape Colony, but were so discon¬ 
tented with British rule that they first 
migrated to Natal, and then again mi¬ 
grated to the Orange River Republic and 
the Transvaal. 

16. Boers (pronounced ‘ boors *), the name for the 

people of Transvaal. It is a Dutch word 
meaning 'farmers,' and is from the same 
root as the last syllable of our word 
• neigh-bowr,’ i.e., nearest fawners. 

17. Zululand, directly north of Natal. 

18. Tugela River, the boundary between Natal 

and Zululand. 

ID. Kraal, the Dutch name for a native village , 
so called from the huts being arranged 
like a coral or string of beads. 

20. Isandula (also spelt Isandlilwana and Island- 
liana), near the north-western frontier of 
Natal. 


21. Rorke’s Drift, across the Buffalo River, a 
tributary of the Tugela, 

22. Ulundi, in the very centre of Zululand. 
The victory was gained on the 4th of July, 
1870. 

He has since conducted 23. Cetewayo was captured on the 28th of 


8 . The Ashantee war began in 1873. Coomassie 
was captured in 1874. 

i). Sir Garnet Wolseley. This distinguished 
officer had previously taken charge of an , 
expedition to the Red River Settlement in 
British America. 

to a successful termination the Egyptian j 
war, and been elevated to the peerage. 

10. The Gold Coast. A British dependency to ! 

the north of the Gulf of Guinea. Its capi- | 
tal is Cape Coast Castle. 

11. Ashantee. A negro kingdom, directly north 

of the Gold Coast, adjoining the larger state 
of Dahomey. The king s name was Kotfee 
Calcalli. 

12. The Fahtees. 

13. Jungle. The trees were interlaced with dense 

thickets of prickly shrubs. 


August. 

24. Two other native kings. Secocoeni , who was 

made prisoner by Sir Garnet Wolseley; 
and Moirosi , who was killed at the 
stormiug of his kraal. 

25. Majuba Hill, near the point where Natal 

and Transvaal meet. 

26. Reconnaissance, a reconnoitring expedition 

to find out the enemy’s position. 

27. Some strap connected with the saddle gave 

way, and he could not mount in time. 








WARS IN DEFENCE OF INDIA. 


253 


WARS IN DEFENCE OF INDIA. 

HE Afghan War.—In 1878 England was involved 



1 in a war with a much more formidable enemy than 
either the savage tyrant of Ashantee or the half-civilised 
king of Abyssinia. Her foes on this occasion were 
the brave mountaineers of Afghanistan ; and the object 
of the British government was to render her influence 
in that country safe from the encroachments of Russia, 
and to form what was called a ‘ scientific frontier ’ for 
the protection of her Indian Empire from attack on the 
north-west. 

Russia had just emerged in triumph from its war 
with Turkey, and the renown of its victories had pene¬ 
trated into every bazaar 1 in Asia. Accordingly, when 
it became known that a Russian embassy had been 
received at Ccibul , 2 the Indian Government thought 
they had just ground for alarm. The memory of the 
horrors of the Indian Mutiny may have made them 
dread the effect of such a disturbing influence upon the 
excitable Eastern imagination. An English mission 
was therefore sent to Afghanistan; but, upon reaching 
the fortress at the head of the narrow pass 3 which leads 
across the mountains from Northern India to that 
country, the embassy was stopped, and informed that 
the Ameer, 4 Sheer Ali, refused to receive them and 
ordered them to be turned back. 

To avenge this insult, and effect the other aims 
mentioned above, a British army entered Afghanistan 
in three columns, 5 and successfully forced its way across 
the difficult mountain-passes, defeating the foe in several 
engagements. The Ameer fled either along with or 


254 the HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—VICTORIA. 

after the withdrawing Russian embassy; and not re¬ 
ceiving the enthusiastic welcome and military help he 
had expected, died of a broken heart six weeks later.. 



THE RETREAT FROM MAIWAND. 

His son and successor, Yakub Khan, afterwards 
signed the treaty of Gandamak, 6 agreeing in all his deal¬ 
ings with other powers to be guided by British advice, 









WARS IN DEFENCE OF INDIA. 


255 


and to receive at Cabul an English Resident. Little 
more than two months had passed, however, when the 
English Residency was attacked by some of the Ameer’s 
soldiers; 7 and, after a brave defence, the ambassador 
and his escort were cruelly butchered. A single native 
Indian soldier alone escaped to carry to the English 
camp the tidings of the treacherous slaughter. 

Immediately the English army was led by the gallant 
General Roberts to the work of vengeance. Within 
little more than five weeks after the destruction of the 
British Mission, he had defeated the Afghans in several 
sharp battles, and entered Cabul in triumph. The ring¬ 
leaders in the massacre were at once put to death ; and 
the Ameer, who was glad to resign his crown, was sent 
a prisoner to India. 

The victorious army spent the winter in a fortified 
camp near Cabul, and in the summer of 18 80, 8 Abdur¬ 
rahman Khan was selected by the native chiefs as their 
ruler. Hardly had this been done, however, when tidings 
came from the south that a small British army, under 
General Burrows, had been cut to pieces at Maiwand 9 by 
the troops of Ayub Khan, a disappointed rival of the 
new Ameer. 

This disaster led to the most brilliant achievement 
of the war. Setting out from Cabul with a body of 
picked troops, General Roberts made one of the most 
striking marches in the annals of our Indian warfare; 
and in three weeks had led his troops in perfect order 
and security over the three hundred and fifty miles of 
difficult and hostile country between the capital and 
Candahar. His enthusiastic and unwearied soldiers 
were ready to attack the enemy on the very next day, 
and their bold but skilful commander reaped the fruit 


256 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—VICTORIA 

of his masterly daring in the magnificent victory of Fir 
Paimed™ which terminated the war. 

The turbulent Ayub Khan then fled to Herat, and 
the Ameer was able to undertake the government of the 
country. Early in the following year, the English troops, 
who had so unweariedly fought the battles of their country 
in that distant mountain land, returned in triumph to 
India. The passes through which alone an invading 
army could penetrate into that vast empire from the 
threatened frontier are now secure under British control. 

The Egyptian War.—But one more of these minor 
wars calls for mention here—the still well-remembered 
( Egyptian campaign,’ an undertaking of far greater im¬ 
portance than any of the preceding contests. In that 
important country, the link connecting Europe with 
Asia and Africa, the army had thrown off its allegiance 
to the Khedive, 11 and placed itself under a leader called 
Arabi. ^ The whole country was thrown into confusion; 
and British interests in the Suez Canal 12 as the highway to 
India, and as essential to the prosperity of her commerce, 
and the enormous stake which the possession of India 
gives England in Eastern affairs, forced her to interfere. 

The fleet, under Admiral Seymour, on the refusal of 
the rebels to desist from erecting offensive works, 
bombarded the forts of Alexandria, and in a few hours 
induced them to ruin. The army, including a contingent 
of troops from India, landed, and, under the command 
of Sir Garnet Wolseley, actively pushed on operations. 

At first the troops were kept in the great northern 
port, and the enemy accordingly busied themselves in 
erecting and fortifying immense batteries to the south 
of that city. When all was ready, the commander of 
the British force, who had wisely kept his own counsel, 

a 





WARS IN DEFENCE OF INDIA. 257 

suddenly embarked the larger part of his army on 
board the fleet. The sight was most striking, as, in the 
calm beauty of a September night, the stately ships 
glided eastward over the placid waters of the blue 
[Mediterranean. Onlookers felt that the men who manned 
that vast 4 armada ’ were worthy successors of those who 
fought 4 where Blake and mighty Nelson fell.’ 



THE BOMBARDMENT OF THE ALEXANDRIAN FORTS. 

Both ends of the Suez Canal had meanwhile been 
seized; and Sir Garnet struck his blow at the enemy 
from the centre of that great waterway. The final en¬ 
counter took place at Arabi’s strong position of Tel-el - 
Kebir } 3 No scene in the history of war is more striking 
than that which immediately preceded the attack. The 



















253 THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY—VICTORIA. 


lines were to be taken by assault at dawn ; and all through 
the dark night the various divisions of the army advanced 
in parallel lines—their leaders exactly timing their ad¬ 
vance, and guiding their course by the stars. The steadi¬ 
ness of this midnight march is beyond praise, and the 
precision with which the different columns burst like 
thunderstorms upon the doomed lines speaks volumes for 
the discipline of the men and the skill of the generals. 

When the word of command was given, the English 
troops, with determined valour, swept over the earthworks 
and cleared the lines with the deadly bayonet. The enemy 
fled in wild confusion, pursued by the cavalry and shelled 
by the artillery. No time was ever given them to rally; 
for on the very next day the cavalry, under General 
Drury Lowe, was at the gates of Cairo. The city of 
the Pharaohs was at once surrendered, and the conquered 
Arabi gave himself up. He was afterwards brought to 
trial along with his chief fellow-conspirators, and is now 
detained in captivity in the island of Ceylon. 

The victorious general and his gallant rival, the ad¬ 
miral of the fleet, 14 have since been raised to the peerage; 
and all agree that no war was ever more ably carried out. 
One of its most important results has been the proof it 
afforded to all Europe of the military and naval strength 
of England. Her ironclad ships were proved to be formid¬ 
able agents of offence ; her transport and supply arrange¬ 
ments were found to be strikingly efficient when compared 
to what they were in the Crimean and earlier wars ; while 
the disciplined valour of her soldiers was never seen to 
better advantage, nor have her generals ever exhibited 
more judicious daring than in this Egyptian war. 

1. Bazaars, the Eastern market-places, or places I with them the news of peace and war as 

of exchange. Here the merchants from well as their goods, 

different countries congregate and bring ' 2. Cabul (sometimes spelt Cabool, Kabul, and 

a 




RECENT YEARS OF THE REIGN OF VICTORIA, erg 


Cauboof), is the capital of Afghanistan, in 
the north-east of that country, and oil a 
river of the same name. 

3. The famous Kltyber Pass, leading fromPesha- 

wur right up towards Cabul. The corres¬ 
ponding southern pass leading to Candahar 
is called the Bolan rass. 

4. Ameer, the title of the emperor of Afghanistan. 

Our word ‘admiral ’ is from the same root, 
which means an independent ruler. 

C. They advanced in November 1878. One column 
entered by the Khyber Pass, a second by 
the Bolan (see note 3 above), and a third 
advanced Vy the Kunum Valley, near the 
first-mentioned. 

( 3 . Gandamak. a place between Cabul and the 
fortress of Jellalabad, at the head of the 
Khyber Pass. The treaty was signed on i 
May 29th. 1879. 

7. It was apparently a revolt; but the Ameer I 


was believed to have been cognisant of 
the matter. 

R. He was elected in the month of July. 

9. Maiwand, north-west of Candahar, the 
southern capital of Afghanistan. Thu 
battle took place on July 27tli. 

10. Pir Paimal, north-west of Candahar. Thu 

hattle took place on September 1st, 1880. 

11. Khedive, the title of the ruler of Egypt, 

The word is from the Persian, and means 
prince or ruler. 

12. Suez Canal, from Port Said on the Mediter¬ 

ranean to Port Suez on the Red Sea. 

13. Tel-el-Kebir, between the centre of the 

Canal and Cairo. The battle took place on 
the 13th September 18-<2. 

14. That is. Sir Garnet Wolseley and Sir Beau¬ 

champ Seymour, now Lords Wolseley and 
Alccster. 


THE RECENT YEARS OF THE REIGN 
OF VICTORIA. 


E NGLAND and America.—While England was thus 
constantly busied with these conflicts on the out¬ 
skirts of her empire, her relations with the great civilised 
powers of the world were of surpassing interest. Let 
us first consider her dealings with our own Republic 
—a nation so closely allied to her by language and 
descent. 

The close of the Indian Mutiny found the States 1 
divided into two hostile sections—the upholders and the 
opposers of slavery. For nearly thirty years 2 the con¬ 
troversy had raged with deadly bitterness—the northern 
hatred of serfdom increasing from year to year, and 
the anger of the slave-owners becoming more and more 
intense . 3 At last the enemies of the evil system suc¬ 
ceeded in electing as President Abraham Lincoln , 4 from 
his youth an uncompromising foe to slavery. 

So incensed were the Southern States'^ at their defeat,* 

that they determined to sccak from the union , and set 

a 




z6o 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY. 


up a separate confederacy. The North maintained that 
the slave -states had no right to act in this way, and 
that their country was a nation —not a mere collec¬ 
tion of units from which any member could separate at 
will. Accordingly, animated by an irresistible spirit 
of patriotism, the people of the free states determined 
to sacrifice their whole possessions and their lives to 
maintain the Union , and resolved that they would sup¬ 
press the rebellion, no matter at what cost 7 and in spito 
of every disaster. 8 

A dreadful civil war then raged for four years; 9 but, 
after a struggle of unequal magnitude, the cause of 
Freedom and American Nationalism triumphed, and the 
exhausted South was forced into allegiance. During the 
gigantic contest, slavery had been abolished; 10 and as it is 
a proud boast that c slaves cannot breathe in England,’ 
so it is now a glorious article of our constitution, that 
slavery shall never again exist upon American soil. 

Unhappily the general sympathy of England had 
been with the brave but erring and unfortunate South. 
Ships had even been built in her ports for the Seces¬ 
sionists, and had preyed cruelly upon our commerce. 
Of these by far the most injurious had been a steamer 
from the Mersey—the then famous Alabama. The 
justly incensed government and people of the States 
now demanded satisfaction; and, to the honour of 
the two great English-speaking nations, Britain and 
America, instead of plunging into war, submitted their 
subjects of dispute to peaceful arbitration . n The judges 
found England entitled to pay three millions sterling; 
the award was faithfully carried out, and since that time 
the friendship between our kinsmen and ourselves has 
steadily increased. 


a 


RECENT YEARS OF THE REIGN OF VICTORIA. 261 


Changes in Europe.—Two movements of stupendous 
magnitude have been steadily progressing during these 
years so pregnant with importance to England and the 
world. The first of these is that irresistible tendency 
of small communities to join themselves into nations , 
formed by those of the same race and speaking the 
same language, which had in the Middle Ages welded 
into one the different peoples of England 12 and the 
principalities of France. The second current is one no 
less general, no less powerful, and no less beneficent; it 
is the marvellous advance towards Liberty and Reform 
which has stirred into new activity the oppressed peoples 
of the continent and led them onwards towards a higher 
and more prosperous life. 

The mighty national tide first rose in Italy, which 
at the beginning of the Crimean War was split up 
into many small parts. Austria held Lombardy and 
Venetia 13 under the iron hand of a cruel despotism ; Fer¬ 
dinand II. trampled beneath his tyrant heel the people 
of Naples and Sicily; various other separate Duchies 14 
still further broke up the peninsula, and the name Italy 
was thus merely a geographical term destitute of all 
political significance. Now, thanks to the statesman¬ 
ship of the illustrious patriot Cavour, 15 the heroic sword 
of the fiery Garibaldi, 16 and the gallant boldness of 
Victor Emmanuel, 17 the unity of Italy 18 has been 
triumphantly established and the peninsula has entered 
upon a new career of prosperity and progress. 

The same current has swept over Germany in this 
wonder-working generation. The progress there has 
not yet reached its ultimate goal, but has advanced 
with mighty strides. Here the names of the august 
king and emperor William™ the iron-willed politician 


262 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY. 


Bismarck 20 (the presiding genius of German unity), and 
the unsurpassed strategist, General Von Moltke, 21 form 
the triumvirate to whom their fellow-countrymen owe 
the magnificent triumphs of their Fatherland. 22 

Before these leaders began their great work, Germany 
like Italy was broken up into a great number of states, 
the two most powerful being Prussia and Austria. 2 " 
The first step towards unity was the taking of the two 
German provinces of Schleswig and Holstein 24 from 
Denmark. Two years later war broke out between 
Prussia and Austria themselves, in which the latter was 
crushed in a short campaign of seven days. 25 This 
triumph for the Northern kingdom was followed by the 
exclusion of the conquered country from the German 
confederation, the temporary separation from the same 
union of the southern states of Baden, Wurtemberg, 
Bavaria, and Saxony ; and the union of all the Northern 
principalities into one compact empire under the vic¬ 
torious William of Prussia. 26 

Four years later, there broke out the memorable war 
between Germany and France, 27 in which the Northern 
Empire was joined by all the Southern States. It was 
soon made manifest that the patriotism and bravery of 
the French were quite unable to meet the perfect 
organisation of their invaders and the unrivalled skill 
of the opposing general. France was accordingly com¬ 
pletely defeated, 28 its emperor lost his throne, Paris 
was taken, and the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine 
were once more added 29 to their empire by the victors. 
The Southern States now willingly joined their Northern 
brethren, and the long-delayed unity of Germany became 
an accomplished fact. 

One European race, the Slavs , 80 is still broken up 


RECENT YEARS OF THE REIGN OF VICTORIA. 263 

into various communities. But they, too, have been 
mightily moved by the spirit of unity and freedom. 
The movement first manifested itself in outbreaks 
of the subject provinces of Turkey. The dreadful 
cruelty with which the rising in the Christian region of 
Bulgaria was suppressed by its Mohammedan rulers 
caused a wave of wrath to sweep over Europe; and 
Russia, as the greatest Slav power, stepped forward as 
the champion of its tortured and enslaved kinsmen. 

After a desperate struggle, in which the Turks • 
fought very bravely against overwhelming odds, Russia 
triumphed. The provinces north of the Balkans 31 were 
then freed from their oppressors ; so that of the European 
peoples which had once been enslaved by the Turk, only 
four millions are now left under its rule. 32 They too 
shall yet be free : for the longing of peoples of the same 
race to live in unity together, 4 safe from interference of 
external force,’ shall yet be satisfied; and a free Slav 
people may yet be able to stand side by side on equal 
terms with united Germany and undivided Italy. 

Progress of Liberty and Reform.—The second great 
movement mentioned at the beginning of the preceding 
section of this lesson—that of liberty and reform—has 
been steadily progressing not only in England but 
on the continent of Europe. In France a republic 33 
seems to be at last firmly established, and her free 
people are advancing rapidly under the stimulating in¬ 
fluence of self-government; Italy rejoices in a constitu¬ 
tion framed on the model of the English system, and 
representative institutions have been formed throughout 
Austria. 34 

Prussia still makes the maintenance of her military 
organisation supreme over questions of popular liberty, 

a 


264 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY. 


and Russia is practically an unlimited despotism: but 
in the former country education is too widely spread to 
allow arbitrary rule long to prevail; and in Russia, 
serfdom has been abolished for nearly a generation, and 
the dawn of popular liberty is beginning to brighten the 
Eastern sky. 35 

The greatest burden which Europe has at present to 
bear is the enormous armed force kept up by each of its 
separate countries. Hundreds of millions of pounds 
are every year wasted on armaments; and millions of 
men, withdrawn from the ranks of industry, require to 
be supported by the labours of those left to work. The 
only great country in the world which does not main¬ 
tain any huge military establishments is the United 
States; and many believe that the advantage that this 
gives our various industries will so enable us to surpass 
the European countries in trade, that they will in time 
be forced to disband their overgrown armies and enter 
on a career of peaceful rivalry. 

In England, the movement begun in 1832 has been 
as powerful as ever. Thus, in 1867 a new Reform 
Bill 36 widened the basis of the electoral system, and 
granted to thousands of noble artisans their just 
influence in the representation of their country; and 
four years afterwards voters were protected from inter¬ 
ference in the exercise of their rights, by an Act 37 
enabling them to vote with safety according to their 
convictions. Ireland , too, has been greatly benefited— 
the whole attention of government and people being 
centred upon her needs and wishes. The Protestant 
Episcopal Church there, which represented a very small 
minority of the people, has been disestablished and dis¬ 
endowed; 38 a Land Bill 39 has given security of tenure 


a 


RECENT YEARS OF THE REIGN OF VICTORIA. 265 

and moderate rents to the tenants, and may be said 
to have made them part-proprietors of the soil with 
their landlords. Unhappily, a section of that unfor¬ 
tunate people has not received these concessions in 
the spirit in which they were made, and great confu¬ 
sion still prevails. 40 Finally, a grand system of national 
education has been devised: no parent, however brutal 
and ignorant, is now allowed to deprive his child of tho 
blessings of knowledge; and, where necessary, School 
Boards, elected by the people, have been appointed to 
watch over that training of the young which is produc¬ 
ing results of priceless value to their country. 

Disraeli and Gladstone.—Two men have been pre¬ 
eminent in their influence on the later history of 
England: one of these 
has gone; the other still 
lives—ever-active in the 
service of his country. 

Benjamin Disraeli 41 has 
been said to be the “ most 
remarkable man of our 
time.” With no advan¬ 
tages save those which his 
own talent gave him, and 
with many disadvantages 
(not the least of which 
was that he was of Jewish 
origin), he raised himself 
to be for many years the first man in England. He 
began life as an extreme Liberal, but was soon attached 
to the Conservative side. He was not at first popular 
in Parliament; but his power of wit and sarcasm, his 
happy turns of expression, and his striking and in¬ 
ti 
























266 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY. 


genious reasoning, soon caused him to be recognised as 
a man of the first ability, and he rose to the foremost 
place in the ranks of the Conservative party. 

His name is identified not so much with home legis¬ 
lation as with what is called an Imperial policy, that is, 
one which lays very special stress upon the relations to 
foreign states, and is specially careful of the glory and 
dignity of the empire. In 1874 he was raised to the 
peerage as Earl of Beaconsfield; and his last great 
appearance was at the Congress of Berlin which followed 
the Russo-Turkish war. 42 He died in 1880, followed 
by the sorrow of his grateful sovereign, the regret of the 
whole people of England, and the mournful tears of the 
great party he had so brilliantly led. 

William Eivart Gladstone , his great opponent, was 
originally a Conservative, but gradually came to adopt 
the Liberal side in politics. He first became eminent, 
and will ever be known, as a great financier. He 
was ever able so to arrange the revenue that the 
national burden became much lighter, whilst the benefit 
was undiminished; and such arrangements, however 
difficult in themselves, he could always explain in 
a lucid and interesting manner. On still higher sub¬ 
jects, his intense earnestness, the high moral purpose 
evident in all his actions, his clear and powerful argu¬ 
ments, and his remarkable eloquence, produced a mar¬ 
vellous effect upon his hearers. No British minister has 
ever surpassed him in power to ascertain a nation’s 
wants and longings, the skill to form plans to embody 
these, and the courage and determination requisite to 
carry them through to triumphant completion. 

Conclusion.—Thus have you followed the history 
of England from the earliest times to the present. 

a 


RECENT YEARS OF THE REIGN OF VICTORIA. 267 

The country is still pressing onward in the career of 
industry , uprightness , and honour. Manufactures are 
increasing every day; invention seems yet to be in its 
infancy; education and liberty, for which the men of 
Old England had to struggle, are now freely granted to 
the people. The literature of England has lost none 
of its greatness under her illustrious Queen, and the 
names of Tennyson and Browning; Carlyle and Bus¬ 
kin ; Macaulay, Hallam, 

Froude, and Freeman; 

Thackeray, Dickens, 

George Eliot , 43 and many 
other famous writers, 
have handed on to the 
coming generation the 
torch of knowledge, truth, 
and beauty. I11 every 
respect God has blessed 
England and its people, 
and the homes of this day, 
those in which the children 
of Britain now live, are far 
happier and more prosperous than those of the former 
generation. Much yet remains to be done, but progress 
is sure; for it remains as true as the laws of Nature 
itself, that, as the people become more and more Chris¬ 
tian, noble, and free, the power and happiness of the 
country will rise triumphant over every danger and in 
spite of every foe. 



GLADSTONE. 


1. The States. The great American Republic, 

usually known as the United States of 
America. 

2. Thirty Years. The beginning of the agita¬ 

tion for the abolition of slavery may be 


dated from the 1st January 1831, when the 
first number of a paper called The 
Liberator was published in Boston by a 
poor printer called William Lloyd Garri¬ 
son. This champion of the slave edited 

a 



















268 


THE HANOVERIAN DYNASTY 


the paper till 1805. The secession may be 
taken as at the end of December 18G0, 
exactly thirty years after the beginning of 
the anti-slavery struggle. 

3. This but feebly describes the ferocity of the 

slave-holders—even in Philadelphia, poor 
negroes were butchered, and their houses 
burned down by the 4 gallant chivalry * (?) 
of the South ! 

4. Abraham Lincoln, elected in November 

1860. The immediate question of the 
election was whether slavery should or 
should not be allowed to spread into the 
recently settled territories between the 
Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains. 
The election settled that it should not be 
allowed. Lincoln was re-elected in 1864, 
and assassinated by an actor called Wilkes 
Booth in the theatre at Washington, April 
14th, 1865. He was born in 1809. 

5. The Southern States. The first to secede 

was (1) South Carolina; (2) Georgia, (3) 
Alabama, (4) Mississippi, (5) Louisiana, 
and (6) Florida, joined her at once; (7) 
Virginia, (8) North Carolina, (9) Tennessee, 
(10) Arkansas, and (11) Texas, followed a 
few months afterwards. 

6 . Their Defeat. By far the greater number of 

the former Presidents had been from the 
Southern States, and this increased their 
disappointment. 

7. Cost. Before the end of the Civil War, 

America had contracted a debt of nearly 
£G00,000,000. She has already paid off 
more than a third of the whole—surely an 
example to us. 

8 . Disaster. At first the ill-trained army of the 

North was defeated by the more dashing 
forces of the South. 

9. Four Years. The first battle was fought at 

Manassas Junction , in Virginia, on the 
21st of July 1861; the last was fought to 
the south of Richmond on March 29th, 
1865. 

10. Slavery Abolished. The President pro¬ 

claimed, in September 1862, freedom to all 
slaves in those states which should still be 
in rebellion on New Year’s Day 1863. A 
clause abolising slavery was added to the 
American Constitution in 1865. 

11. Arbitration, i.e., the peaceful decision of 

impartial judges. A conference was held 
at Geneva, where the matter was debated, 
and decided against Britain. 

12. The different peoples of England, i.e. t the 

Cymric, the Anglo-Saxon, the Scandi¬ 
navian, and the Norman. To these have 
since been added the peoples of Scotland. 

13. Austria had overrun Italy in 1820, five years 

after the fall of the first Napoleon. She 
had held the north-eastern part till the war 
with Sardinia. 

14. Duchies, such as Tuscany, Parma, and 

Modena. To these might be added the 
States of the Church. 


15. Cavour. The Count Camillo di Cavour, the 

noble minister of the Sardinian king. AH 
his sympathies were on the side of freedom, 
and the unity and liberation of Italy 
formed the one object of his life. He was 
born in 1810 and died in 1861, four months 
after he had witnessed the assembling of the 
first parliament of free and united Italy. 

16. Garibaldi shares with Cavour the honour of 

having freed Italy. A passionate lover of 
freedom, and its champion all over the 
world, no more unselfish and noble- 
hearted patriot ever lived in any age or 
clime. He had purchased the little island 
• of Caprera, near Sardinia ; and after each 
of his victories, refusing all reward, he 
returned to his quiet sea-girt home. He 
was born in 1807, and lived long after 
Cavour to see the prosperity of his beloved 
Italy. To the last he spoke against the 
holding of Savoy by France, and of Trieste 
by Austria. 

17. Victor Emmanuel, the gallant king of Sar¬ 

dinia. He became king of the whole of 
Italy in 1861, and died in 1878. 

18. The Unity of Italy. The steps towards this 

result were the following, (i) The alliance 
of Sardinia with England and France in 
the Crimean war, which gave that little 
kingdom a voice in the settlement of 
matters after the war; this was due to 
Cavour alone. (2) War against Austria in 
alliance with France in 1859. Austria gave 
up Lombardy , but was allowed by France 
to retain Venetia. Tuscany, Parma, and 
Modena also joined Sardinia. France 
received Savoy and Nice as the price of 
her help. 

19. King and Emperor William, t.e„ King of Prus¬ 

sia, and first Emperor of united Germany. 
He is the son of that Frederic-William of 
Prussia who joined England against Napo¬ 
leon,and whose troops joined in the pursuit 
after Waterloo. 

20. Bismarck. Count Otto von Bismarck, the 

able minister of the Prussian king, and the 
great Chancellor of united Germany. From 
the very first he carried out with unfalter¬ 
ing firmness the resolve to make Prussia 
supreme in Germany, and Germany united 
and tranquil in spite of every opposing 
force. 

21. Von Moltke, the great Prussian general. 

He was originally in the service of the 
Danish king, but left because his talents 
were not sufficiently recognised. His 
victories have proved him to be the 
greatest general of his time. 

22. The Fatherland, the fond German name for 

their country. They hold that the Father - 
land exists wherever Germans live—no 
matter under what petty ruler. 

23. Austria. The western provinces of Austria 

are still German in race. For many genera¬ 
tions Austria was the great German power, 




RECENT YEARS OF THE REIGN OF VICTORIA. 269 


and could not brook the increasing in¬ 
fluence of Prussia. 

24. Schleswig and Holstein, the provinces of 

Germany, taken from Denmark, whose 
southern provinces they had been, in 1864. 

25. Seven days. The first engagement took 

place on June 27th, 1866; the final struggle 
took place at Sadoiva , in the north of 
Bohemia, on July 3d. The triumph of 
Prussia was due to its needle-gun , the first 
breech -loading rifle used by a European 
army. This led the other nations to 
change their weapons for the improved 
form. 

2G. It was now settled that the king of Prussia 
should also be hereditary emperor of Ger¬ 
man}'. This was a complete change from 
the old elective system. 

27. Germany and France. The war is known as 

the Franco-Prussian war. It began on 
July 19th, 1870. 

28. After repeated defeats, the whole army of 

the French emperor was compelled to sur¬ 
render at Sedan on September 1st, 1870, 
six weeks after the declaration of war. 
Besides losing the provinces of Alsace and 
Lorraine, France had to pay an indemnity 
of Two Hundred Million Pounds to Ger¬ 
many. 

29. Once more added. Alsace had been taken 

from Germany at the end of the thirty 
years* war in 1648; Lorraine had been 
annexed by France on the death of the 
king of Poland in 176G. 

30. The Slavs. This race is still thoroughly 

subdivided—Russia is really a Slavonic 
state, the southern and eastern provinces 
of Austria are of the same family, the 
states to the north of Turkey and part of 
Prussia may be added. 

31. Roumania and Servia had already been free ; 

Bulgaria, Bosnia, and Herzegovina were 
now released. Roumelia, south ©f the 
Balkans, hopes yet to join her liberated 
brethren. 

32. That is, the inhabitants of Roumelia and 

Albania. 

33. Republic. France has now a Lower House 

called the Senate, equivalent to our House 
of Commons, elected by all citizens above 
the age of twenty-one; she has also an 
Upper House, one-fourth elected by the 
Senate, and the remainder by the citizens 
above twenty-one. 


34. Austria. Representative institutions were 

established on May 1st, 18G1; Hungary ob¬ 
tained her own legislature in 18G7. The 
emperor and empress of Austria are also 
king and queen of Hungary. 

35. The Czar was crowned in 1883 ; he promised 

reforms. Nihilism indicates how terribly 
the masses of Russia feel their enslaved 
condition. 

36. Reform Bill. The Borough Franchise waa 

conferred on all ratepayers, and the lodgers 
who occupied rooms worth £10 a-year; 
the County Franchise was reduced to £12; 
forty-six members were taken from the 
lesser English boroughs and given to 
English counties and places in Scotland 
and Ireland. At present England and 
Wales have 493 members, Scotland GO, and 
Ireland 105, i.e., in all 658 members—the 
constitutional number of our House of 
Commons. 

37. J.e., the Ballot Act of 1872. 

38. The Irish Church was disendowed in I860. 

39. Land Bill. This was amended by the Irish 

Land Act of 1881. 

40. A dreadful society called the 1 Invincibles,’ 

had been formed in Dublin for the assassi¬ 
nation of the chief members of the Govern¬ 
ment ami other opponents of the society. 
The chief leaders have now been executed, 
the Catholic Church lias denounced secret 
societies and crime, and order seems to bo 
gradually re-asserting itself. 

41. Bsnjamin Disraeli. Born 21st December 

1804, other accounts say 1805 or 180G; 
Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1868, 
and again from 1874 to 1880. 

42. The treaty of Berlin was signed on July 13, 

1878. 

43. These are but a very few of famous Victorian 

writers; Tennyson is our noble Poet- 
Laureate, and Robert Browning his great¬ 
est rival; Carlyle the strongest thinker of 
his age, an unrivalled essayist and bio¬ 
grapher, while Ruskin has created the 
literature of art criticism ; Macaulay, 
Hallam, Froude, and Freeman, are the 
leaders of an illustrious band of histo¬ 
rians ; and, last of all, Dickens, Thackeray, 
and the cultivated lady, Miss Evans, who 
wrote under the name of George Eliot, are 
the most famous of our numberless host 
of novelists. 






“ The most perfect and handsome series of Wall 


Maps ever printed. ” 

H U G H E S’ 

NEW EDUCATIONAL 

WA LL MA PS. 

MOUNTED ON STRONG CLOTH, WITH ROLLERS, COLORED 
AND VARNISHED. 

PREPARED EXPRESSLY FOR SCHOOL USE. 


The names are introduced with great judgment, and free from the 
common fault of overcrowding. The physical features are boldly and 
distinctly delineated, and the political boundaries are carefully colored. 
They are adapted to any series of geographies, no keys being required. 


UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED BY THE CITY OF BOSTON. 


CITY OF BOSTON. 

Department of Public Instruction. 

Secretary’s Office. 

Boston School Supply Co. : 

Gentlemen ,—At a meeting of the School Committee of Boston, held 
June 26th, the following order was passed by the Board, on the recom¬ 
mendation of the Committee on Text Books: 

ORDERED , That Hughes' Series of Maps be authorized for use in 
the Grammar Schools. 

Yours very truly, PHINEAS BATES, 

Secretary School Committee . 

BOSTON SCHOOL SUPPLY CO., 

'Wholesa 1 e Educational Booksellers, Importers and General School Furnishers, 

15 Bromfikld Street, Boston. 

JOHN A. BOYLE, Manager. 


a 









LIST OF HUGHES’ MAPS. 


Size uniformly 54 x 68. in. 

Wholesale Prices. 

1. World on Mercator’s Projection,...... $6.co 

2. World in Hemisphere,.4.50 

3. North America, . . . . . . 4 50 

4. South America,.4.50 

5. Europe,.4.50 

6. Asia,.4.50 

7. Africa,.4.50 

8. The United State?, drawn from latest Government Surveys, 

just ready,.4.50 


ANY MAP SOLD SEPARATELY. 

-- 

SUPPLEMENTARY MAPS TO THE SERIES. 


Uniform in Size and Style with the above. 


England and Wales,.$4.50 

Scotland,.4.50 

Ireland, . . .4.50 

British Isles,.6.00 

Australia and New Zealand,.4.50 

Palestine,.4 50 

-- 

BOSTON SCHOOL SUPPLY CO., 

15 BROMFIELD STREET, BOSTON. 

a 

























The Best Supplementary Readers for Grammar 
and High School Use. 


PHILIPS’ —— 

Historical Readers 

IN FOUR BOOKS. 


■>£<- 


In this Series of Historical Readers, the aim has been to present 
clearly and accurately all that children can well understand of the 
events which led to the founding and making of the English nation, 
tracing step by step its progress onward to its present proud position— 
the first among the nations of the world. 

Everything that could in any way enhance the educative value of 
these Readers has been most carefully attended to. The text through¬ 
out is characterized by originality, freshness and simplicity. The notes 
are clear and concise, and are designed not only for the scholar but 
also for the younger teachers—showing them the line of thought which 
they should follow in their oral lessons. The illustrations are unusu¬ 
ally numerous, attractive and useful, and include an entirely new series 
of vignettes of sovereigns and other prominent persons. The maps 
have been specially drawn for the series ; while the paper, printing and 
binding leave nothing to be desired. 

English history has probably never before been presented in a form 
so interesting and attractive for children. 

The Publishers have spared no effort or expense in the production of 
the Series, and the Books are acknowledged to be the most interesting 
and attractive Readers ever published. They are carefully edited, fully 
annotated, beautifully illustrated, clearly printed, and strongly bound. 

-. . ■—- 

BOSTON SCHOOL SUPPLY CO., 

"Wholesale Educational Booksellers, Importers, and General School Furnishers, 

15 Bromfield Street, Boston. 

JOHN A. BOYLE, Manager. 

a 
































































































































































































































































































